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Business Reporter
THE government is committed to supporting local industries involved in Information and Communication Technologies so that they can compete on the global stage, a Cabinet minister has said.Speaking at the launch of a new mobile phone by GTel, Information Communication Technology, and Postal and Courier Services Minister, Webster Shamu said it is prudent to digitalise critical sectors.

“We will leave no stone unturned in supporting local companies. We will support companies like GTel because we want to see companies grow in ICT products so that we can be able to possibly surpass international standards. Our vision in the Ministry is to bring about change that will transform Zimbabwe into a knowledge-based society. We will not only focus on the importation of business ideas from other countries but we want to see the promotion also of manufacturing of our own products,” said Minister Shamu.

The Minister criticised local companies who are falling short in engaging with international companies to gain more skills.

“To us the management of GTel is indeed following the right path, the policy of collaboration with Chinese ICT companies and we hope this should lead to transfer of skills to Zimbabwe. It is only through the development of sound economic relationships that Zimbabwe can be able to connect, to collaborate and find out more about the opportunities in key research and technological sectors,” he said.

The new device, which runs on Android goes head-to-head with other flagship devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S5, Apple iPhone 5S and local brand Astro’s Virtual 2. The new phone succeeds the A717 Explorer as the GTel brand’s flagship device.

Speaking at the same event, GTel chief executive Mr Chamunorwa Shumba said 85 percent of their product line are smart devices.

“GTel is migrating to devices with later versions of the Android OS (Versions 4.0 and later). The A750 Xplora is not powered by the latest version of Android. The phone is designed as a challenger to the Samsung Galaxy S4 rather than the Android Kitkat powered Galaxy S5,” he said.