WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2011-03-21 Time: 13:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
By Tatenda Macheka
ZIMBABWE’s mobile phone networks are mooting sharing infrastructure, particularly in rural areas so as to expand mobile telephony in those areas.
This will be the first time the companies will have gone into co-opetition with each other in a market that has been characterised by rivalry in which Econet Wireless has been the dominant force.
“If the services providers came together they might exploit the rural markets more easily,” Econet CEO Douglas Mboweni told the Zimbabwe Independent. The proposal is to share infrastructure such as towers, shelters and even generators.
While Econet, the largest network s, accounting for three quarters of the mobile phone subscribers in Zimbabwe, appears keen to share resources, its traditional rival, Net One seems lukewarm, perhaps in the light of its own possible merger with an international network envisaged by year end.
“We can only share passive infrastructure which are towers and shelters but it is impossible to share active infrastructure such as switches because they are from different suppliers and we use different bands,” Net One CEO Reward Kangai said at the recently concluded Euromoney conference. Although he poured cold water on it, speculation is that his company is to conclude a merger with South African network, MTN.
However, Telecel, which has the second largest number of mobile phone subscribers in Zimbabwe, has congruent ideas with Econet on co-opetition. Telecel feels the company that’s not keen to play ball is Net One.”The spirit of co-operation is not there and sharing has proved to be difficult because others feels that it takes away their competitive advantage,” said Telecel CEO Aimable Mpore in apparent reference to Net One.
He mentions that the government owned Net One once dismantled his company’s equipment from shared towers. This was in spite of approval by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) on the sharing of towers.
If the plan goes ahead, Telecel may be the biggest beneficiary in terms of accessing the rural areas. The company admits to having a low capital base that is limiting it from penetrating the rural market.
On the other hand, Econet Wireless, while capable of going it alone, is keen on rationalising costs on infrastructure. One of the biggest savings would be on the use of generators, which are critical to keep the mobile networks going, in light of persistent power cuts by Zesa. Econet CEO Mboweni said having several generators might put energy to waste.However, sharing is emphasised when it comes to reaching the rural areas.
“The rural folk are now critical and must not be looked down upon since most of the population in Zimbabwe lives in the rural areas,” said Econet’s Mboweni, estimating that up to three quarters of Zimbabweans live in the rural areas. He describes the rural market as untapped and a force to reckon with.
Yet it is not calls that are initiated by the rural folk that Econet is targeting.
On the contrary, the company expects to reap from calls that are made by the urban dwellers to their relatives in the rural areas. Many Zimbabweans still have strong ties with their rural folk, many being their own parents.
The growth in demand for mobile phones in the rural areas was being aided by the increasing availability of affordable handsets.
Mboweni sees the incursion of mobile telephony into the rural areas as a major step towards bring that section of population up to speed in terms of Information and Telecommunication Technologies.
It will also improve service delivery by schools, clinics and hospitals.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 17 March 2011
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201103210045.html?viewall=1