Econet Adjusts Tariffs For Roaming And International Calling ????????
Econet Wireless has revised its roaming services and international outbound calling & SMS services tariffs following the Monetary Policy Statement (MPS) announced by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe on the 20th of February 2019.
The MPS designated RTGS balances, Bond notes and coins as RTGS dollars, effectively differentiating the same from any other currency within the multicurrency system.
Econet advised that with effect from midnight 26 February 2019, the charges for roaming and international outbound calling and SMS services will be adjusted to reflect the movement in the Exchange Rate as determined on the interbank settlement system. The company claims that ‘this is not a change in tariffs’ as the applicable tariffs for these services remain unchanged. “We are simply recognising the impact of the movement in the exchange rates from 1:1 to the interbank rate as determined by the market for services that are directly procured in foreign currency,” said Econet in a statement.
Their rival, Telecel had long introduced some hoops and lops for people who want to roam to jump through.
The applicable tariffs are as shown on the table below.
Roaming tariffs, which averaged a dollar per minute to receive a call, has been pegged at $1, 10 in South Africa and $1,13 in Botswana.
The telecoms giant said calling Zimbabwe on roaming from the United States of America was now $10,78 per minute and to receive was $1, 20 per minute .
International calling tariffs including VAT in Botswana are now pegged at $1,13, South Africa $1,10, Zambia $1,55 while USA, Canada, China and the United Kingdom are at $1,20, said Econet. Meanwhile, all international SMS tariffs including Vat are now $0,30.
“This is not a change in tariffs. The applicable tariffs for these services remain unchanged. We are simply recognising the impact of the movement in the exchange rates from 1:1 to the interbank rate as determined by the market for services that are directly procured in foreign currency,” said Econet.