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Business Reporter

ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe has started charging headline tariffs in United States dollars (US$) with effect from 01 September 2022, following regulatory approvals.

The company’s customers will now be able to use US$ airtime directly for voice, SMS, data and internet services without first converting it to bundles.

Econet first introduced promotional US$ smart bundles in April this year, which had to be converted to make voice calls, send SMS or use data services.

According to the new schedule, customers will now pay US$0.009 per second when making voice calls during off-peak and US$0.008 on peak times.

At the same time, SMS is now billed at US$0.0108 per message, while out-of-bundle data is now costing US$0.0083 per megabyte.

Meanwhile, Econet has also adjusted its headline tariffs in Zimbabwean dollars by an average of 61 percent, resulting in customers paying ZW$25.9514 per minute when making voice calls, ZW$5.33 for sending an SMS, and out-of-bundle data pegged at ZW$4.10 per megabyte.

The telecommunications sector was granted a phased tariff adjustment by the telecoms regulator of 61 percent in July 2022, and a further 61 percent with effect from 1 September 2022, and a further 61 percent with effect from 1 November 2022.

The tariff adjustments will cover voice, SMS and data services and are determined in the local currency.