NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, August 5, 2016

The Zimbabwean government deliberately blocked the entry of South Africa’s MTN Group and Kenya’s Safaricom into the nation’s telecoms space in order to shield local operators from bigger international firms and promote their organic growth.

MTN has its presence in 22 African countries, while Safaricom is the biggest communication company in East and Central Africa.

“I can assure you that they come with huge pockets to dwarf any player in this market. They have been knocking on our doors but we have kept them closed because we want to protect them (local mobile operators),” Supa Mandiwanzira, the ICT minister was quoted by the source.

The Southern Africa nation has three mobile networks — Econet, NetOne and Telecel. The government owns controlling shares in Telecel and NetOne. Mobile phones have over the years become the simplest and cheapest mode of communication in Zimbabwe, a country characterized by a lack of infrastructure, limited electricity supply and poor roads.