Zimbabwean cellular operators Econet Wireless and NetOne have signed a long-awaited network sharing agreement which will see them sharing their respective infrastructure. TechZim reports that a previous sticking point in negotiations had been Econet’s unwillingness to share its larger network with NetOne, which has a far smaller footprint, unless it was suitably compensated. The exact terms of the deal have not been released.
Econet CEO Douglas Mboweni said: ‘We are happy to have signed this agreement, something we have wanted to do [for] a very long time. We consider this to be a very fair arrangement and believe it represents a giant step in our collective endeavour to bring connectivity and ICT services to all Zimbabweans.’ Meanwhile, NetOne’s CEO Lazarus Muchenje commented: ‘This agreement allows NetOne and Econet to optimise the utilisation of scarce foreign currency as it eliminates the duplication of infrastructure.’
Zimbabwe , Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (incl. ZOL, Liquid Telecom), NetOne , Wireless
