The government has suspended the new mobile tariffs introduced this week ad has described increase as “shockingly high” adding that it only reflected “insensitivity to fellow Zimbabweans and gluttonous corporate greed”.
Only one mobile operator Econet, the country’s biggest network, had effected the increase.
The Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe has set the floor prices for voice at 12 cents and data at 2cents per megabyte, sparking a public outcry and accusations that the government was trying to muzzle social media which has become of the most popular forms of protest and public outcry against the authorities.
Information Communication Technology Minister Supa Mandiwanzira said the new tariffs had been suspended with immediate effect and mobile operators may have to refund their customers.
“I have been told that the new prices were actually proposed by the mobile operators to the regulator. While it is conceivable that the price of data may go up, the margin by which the prices have gone up is shockingly high and can only reflect insensitivity to fellow Zimbabweans and gluttonous corporate greed,” he was quoted by The Herald as saying.
Mandiwanzira said the internet was now a key driver for economic growth, innovation, entrepreneurship and government service delivery so it had to be easily accessible.
“It therefore follows that it must be accessible — physically and financially. I share and sympathise with concerns expressed by a multitude of Zimbabwean Internet users that the recently effected data prices are unparalleled and extortionist.
“Unreasonable data prices, especially in a high literacy country like ours, undermine our huge investments in human capital, broadband infrastructure and the ability to attract investment.
“My ministry’s Innovation Fund initiative, which has raised more than $6 million to date, is premised on affordable broadband and growth opportunities in on-line enterprises in Zimbabwe and beyond.”
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