Econet Services Down - Calling, Internet Data, EcoCash...
Most Econet services are reported to be unstable. Techzim reports that services including Calling Services, EcoCash, Data/Internet services, USSD services and some apps run by the company are currently not working, midday Saturday.
Earlier in the week, mobile operators threatened that they would shut down their services during load shedding. Zimbabwe is currently facing blackouts of at least 18 hours a day, with some areas reporting even more hours.
During load shedding, mobile operators have to keep services running using backup power generators which drastically increase the cost of keeping the network running. The backup generators use fuel which is currently in short supply in the country. The cost of fuel in ZW dollars has increased significantly in the past couple of months.
Mobile operators charge for their services in local ZW dollars, and in recent months, the government has not approved tariff hikes to match the increased costs. This likely means mobile operators are operating at a loss.
Service quality for the 3 main telecoms operators (Econet, NetOne and Telecel) has, therefore, declined severely for the most part of 2019.
