Econet barred from increasing tariffs

ECONET Wireless (Pvt) Ltd mobile subscribers got a reprieve after the Administrative Court stopped the firm's bid to increase tariffs as clients are already reeling from high charges. 

Econet wanted to raise charges to a maximum 21 cents per minute against 15 cents set by the Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (Potraz). The tariffs are set to be reduced further over a three-year period to 2017.  

In 2014, Potraz ordered mobile operators to slash voice tariffs from 23 cents to 15 cents with effect from January this year. The regulatory authority also directed that tariffs be further adjusted to 12 cents in 2016 and then 9 cents in 2017. 

The tariff reduction directive is part of Potraz's implementation of a new pricing model called the long run incremental cost (LRIC) model approved in June last year.

Justice Herbert Mandeya last week threw out an appeal by Econet to increase tariffs for its products across the board. With a subscriber base of about nine million, Econet is by far the country's largest mobile operator controlling over 60 percent of the mobile market. 

The ruling means that Econet, together with Telecel and NetOne, will continue charging the rates set by Potraz following a research into appropriate rates in October last year.

Last year, Potraz issued a directive for all mobile telephone networks to reduce their tariffs. The regulatory determination was the result of research spanning almost two years whereby comparative studies were carried out in economies such as South Africa, Zambia and Botswana. Chronicle