A new Zimbabwean Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), Viva Mobile, has been given approval to launch by the local telecoms regulator, Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).
This will be the first MVNO in Zimbabwe.
According to the founder and CEO, Dzidzai Chidumba, he had anticipated a go-live date in march 2016 but that didn’t happen as they did not get the approval to start operations. He went further to add that getting the nod, it is likely to commence operations in August 2016.
The delay in getting the approval might not be unconnected by the fact that POTRAZ had to work on a new licensing framework as Zimbabwe’s existing regulatory framework did not cater for NVNOs.
Techzim confirms that Viva Mobile will be riding on Africom’s telecoms infrastructure.
The telecom companies in Zimbabwe have been experiencing dwindling fortunes with the decreasing voice revenues and the economic crisis in the country. One wonders how Viva Mobile hopes to operate successfully in this terrain when the incumbents are struggling. Econet Wireless recorded a 14% decrease in its annual revenue for the last period from $746 million to $641 million while TelOne also experienced a decline from $157 million to $138 million.
