[2008-07-14]  Econet plans to increase market share
THE country’s biggest mobile telephone operator, Econet Wireless, has set plans to grow its market share by aggressively investing in new technologies and improving its services, an official has said.
In a statement to mark the company’s 10th anniversary, Econet Wireless Chief Executive Officer Mr Douglas Mboweni said the company was now looking beyond the 1,2 million user capacity and came up with strategies designed to match network expansion with service and innovation.
“The next challenge will not only be about expanding subscriber capacity and lifting subscriber numbers,” he said.
“Our strategy is also about meeting the rapidly changing demands and expectations of the modern telecoms consumer by deploying new technology, keeping abreast of emerging and developing technological trends.
“It is one thing to have a large subscriber base. It is quite another to make sure that base is active and viable. That's our next challenge.”
He said a 3G service was expected to be launched shortly, adding that commercial trial runs had already been completed, and frequencies were now awaited from the regulator.
Launched in July 1998, Econet has grown to command a big market share and is now active in 15 countries across four continents.
The company started with 10 000 subscribers in 1998 but has since grown to 650 000 over the 10 years.
Econet listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange within three months of its launch after a record share offer three-times oversubscribed.
Shareholders, however, had to wait for over five years for the first dividend, but Mr Mboweni notes that the company now not only declares dividends, but also has delivered some of the sharpest capital appreciation on the ZSE.
“We thank our shareholders and partners for foregoing their dividends during our formative years. It is they who made us great,” he said.
Three months into its operations, Econet was the first of the country’s three operators to launch a pay-as-you-go service — Buddie.
In 2002, Econet combined its prepaid and post-paid platforms into a new hybrid product, “Libertie” while in 1999, Econet launched the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol)-based mobile browsing product, the first of its kind in Africa.
Later the company pooled its non-telecom assets into Econet Wireless Capital, its investment arm, and gave it the mandate to buy more investments outside its core telecoms

Source: standard