TELECEL DEAL COLLAPSES

picture courtesy of Telecel website

After the talks of a $20 million offer for a significant slice of Telecel Zimbabwe  surfaced in January this year, we all thought this was the definitive moment in the mobile network operator’s ownership structure.

Instead, it turned into something of a sideshow that was a display of greed and the tough lessons that are learnt from building any business under opaque circumstances.

Last week it was reported that Brainworks Capital, the investment outfit that had offered to buy 40% of Telecel Zimbabwe was withdrawing its offer. The reasons cited included the continued legal tussles that have been focused on contesting the deal and put Brainworks under public onslaught and the failure of the Empowerment Corporation to respond to the offer made.

Rather than an acceptance or refusal of the offer, Brainworks was instead invited to a bidding process for the 40% share that it thought it had secured.  The inevitable happened, and Brainworks pulled out.

Now, Brainworks has made the news for securing $35 million in capital that will be directed to bolstering of its existing stakes in local businesses and more significantly in local telecoms. Brainworks will, however, not be making those telecoms investments into Telecel.

That last bit on staying away from Telecel hasn’t surprised anyone really. Empowerment Corporation and its ownership of Telecel Zimbabwe is one huge mess, and any investor having to untangle that just to buy into an aggressively competitive industry would be frustrated and move away.

What has happened with Telecel and the “soft intervention” from the Ministry of ICT ought to serve as a lesson to corporate raiders or the investors in Telecel Zimbabwe. With Brainworks out of the picture, finding another local investor willing to shore up an 8 figure investment for the telecoms operator isn’t going to be easy. This creates a frustrating situation for the mobile operator and drives away other local and international investors that might want to buy Vimpelcom out of the remaining stake in Telecel that it holds.

No investors mean stunted growth for Telecel which, has, in better days, proved to be a formidable competitor to the dominance that Econet has in the industry. The Empowerment Corporation is also left holding 40% of a mobile operator that is underperforming and cannot attract additional investment that it (the Empowerment Corporation) cannot raise.

For more info: www.telecel.co.zw

                      www.techzim.co.zw

ECONET SET TO LAUNCH ECOSHOPPER

picture courtesy of econet website

Econet wireless will be launching its first foray into e-commerce today with the introduction of – you guessed it – EcoShopper.

It’s not your typical e-commerce. Or let me say it’s not your fully fledged e-commerce operation but there are some key things that make it interesting.

1. They are starting with basic commodities, probably because they are fast moving and therefore worth doing for a company their size. Econet would only get into this if its going to have some visible impact in the medium term, otherwise they would wait. The groceries are sold in baskets starting with a $20 one, $30, $60.

picture courtesy of econet website

2. They are partnering a manufacturer – National Foods. They are looking to disrupt the Supermarket model. Econet are not the first to try commerce on basic commodities in Zimbabwe. The others before it have faced the problem of their prices being higher than the supermarkets’ because, well, they are supplied by the supermarkets. Econet’s strategy is to take the supermarket out of the chain and get direct from the manufacturer. That way, the price may be better than the supermarkets. Those who shop , please compare and let us know in the comments.

3. Econet won’t deliver. Yet!
The customers of EcoShopper will be required to collect their groceries from a National Foods pickup point. I hope pickup is 24 hours otherwise it’s attractiveness compared to regular shopping starts to get questionable.

On payment, Econet is requiring the use of its mobile payment platform, EcoCash. This is ofcourse brilliant but if Econet plans to make this big they’ll have to open it up to everyone, Mastercard, Textacash, Telecash, Onewallet.

What impresses me is that Econet put some thought into this and that they were bold to want to change the way things work. Going via the supermarkets has made the e-commerce business unviable – they are cutting out that fat. Delivery logistics are a cost nightmare that threatens feasibility – they are cutting it out for now and trying without it. Buying separate units wouldn’t work so they are bundling the groceries and doing it anyway.

The danger with the basketing ofcourse is that the customer won’t want some of things in that bundle and, in these hard times, will feel they are paying for stuff they don’t need.

Econet will be launching EcoShopper later today, and we hope some of these issues are already addressed.

In the e-commerce business, Econet are trailing other operators like MTN on the continent who have indicated this is a key growth area for them.

For more info visit www.techzim.co.zw

                            www.econet.co.zw

BUNDLES OF JOY ARE BACK.

picture courtesy of techzim website

This year  started off with a reduction in voice call tariffs and the subsequent termination of the Econet Bundles of Joy promotion? Well, guess what, those voice bundles have surfaced again.

Econet made some changes to the bundles, specifically what you’ll get for each $1 that you spend. Instead of offering more minutes  each bundle is offering slightly less. Your $1 now gets you 8.5 minutes, down from the $1 for 10 minutes offer  and every other bundle has been similarly trimmed.

One other change has been the introduction of a bundle combos (l love the new combo deal)option that offers voice bundles paired with SMS and data for a $5, $10 and $20 spend.

To access the service, you still use the same familiar *140# USSD code with the bundles tucked under promotions option. Instead of having to agree to an invisible set of Terms and Conditions, an option to view some of the Ts and Cs has been added on the bundles’ USSD menu.

with the new combo one can get voice calls and free messages at once. $1.10 gets you 8.5 minutes and 50 sms (now thats a deal).

Is this voice bundle revival a response to a further dip in voice revenue?Did the Telecel $1/35-minute voice bundle and Mega Bonus promotion; or the immortal NetOne Dollar a Day promotions (both of which outshine the Econet offer any day) jolt Econet into bringing the Bundles of Joy back either.

The only visible change in terms of voice services in the market has been the WhatsApp voice calls. Yes, Econet has already said that it isn’t bothered by VoIP, which makes a tonne of sense in the bigger scheme of things when you consider issues to do with network capacity.

However, the threat of losing out on more voice revenue to a new sensation that can and will be tried by anyone on WhatsApp with an Android device (there a lot of those by the way), should have been enough to for Econet to consider bringing back the one promotion that can offer just a bit of joy.

For more info visit www.techzim.co.zw

                            www.econet.co.zw

NETONE BUNDLES UP

NetOne launched its own Over The Top (OTT) service bundles, or more specifically WhatsApp and Facebook bundles.

The modus operandi is the same: Give subscribers unlimited access to the most visible applications or services and have them pay for it, network neutrality be damned.

It’s a win-win situation actually. NetOne will steadily boost its Average Revenue Per User and maintain broadband subscriber numbers while the subscribers get cheap access (At $5 for a monthly combo, NetOne is offering its bundles at a lower price than its competitors’ Econet and Telecel) to Facebook and WhatsApp services.

It adds a lot of value to NetOne subscribers when you consider the access to video and other multimedia services that would have cost an arm and a leg on an ordinary data subscription.

I find it difficult to place faith in State-owned enterprises, but perhaps this could be the start of better fortunes for NetOne. Of course mobile network renaissance can’t be pinned on just two OTT services, but the network has more lined up for its data services in the medium to long term that shows a lot of promise.

The NetOne network expansion project which has a strong focus on LTE and broadcast services could be part of the point of difference NetOne needs to go toe to toe with Econet and Telecel.

Competition is supposed to be on value and not price. It’s the same sentiment that the NetOne CEO Reward Kangai was sharing last week at eTech Africa as he gave a glimpse of the vision for data services delivery the MNO has.

At the end of the day, this is shown in the simple but effective services like these bundles and hopefully an LTE rollout that actually makes the service available to everyone.

With voice revenue not as alluring, the mobile telecoms race is for the best services in mobile money and data. Ironically If NetOne can make services like WhatsApp calls work effectively, it could become a force to reckon with in broadband.

See more at: http://www.techzim.co.zw

MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES DESIGNER BLUETOOTH DESKTOP

picture courtesy of technomag website

Microsoft has announced the entry of its new product, Microsoft Designer Bluetooth Desktop. The new product was announced yesterday on their website. According to the information l got on their website, the wireless product is ultra-thin and modern-looking which looks great  on your desk at home or at work and keep you productive! 
 
The mouse is compact and small with tracking that’s powered by BlueTrackTechnology which combines the power of optical with the precision of laser for use on almost any surface. The mouse’s design is ambidextrous which means you can use it comfortably, whether you’re a right or left handed.

The Microsoft Designer BluetoothKeyboard pairs wirelessly to your desktop, laptop, or tablet using Bluetooth 4.0 to instantly connect without any wires or USB transceivers. With Bluetooth 4.0, you get better battery life and a more reliable connection to the device it’s paired with. With the mouse, you can go almost six months without having to change the batteries! And both the mouse and keyboard have a small LED indicator that will tell you when battery power is low.

There are two important takeaways with the new Microsoft Designer Bluetooth Desktop: it’s awesome design and that it uses Bluetooth. Its design is all about subtleties and attention to detail (that’s why we’re calling it “Designer”). For example – there are magnetics on the battery doors that glide gently into place. Don’t worry, the battery doors are very secure when closed so you don’t need to worry about the batteries falling out. And calculated precision was used in every space and depth of each key on the keyboard so that when you’re typing it feels just right. And you get a perfect clicking feel and sound with every stroke of the mouse.

The product will only be available for public consumption in May 2015 for the estimated retail price of $99.95 (U.S.) at the Microsoft Store and at various other retailers.

See more at: http://www.technomag.co.zw