The network will be launched in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, and is designed to mark Zimbabwe and Zambia’s joint hosting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly, to be held in the city from August 24 to 29 2013.
Douglas Mboweni, CEO at Econet Wireless, said that combining the launch with the general assembly will show the world that Zimbabwe “is not dead and buried; we are very much alive, and we have kept pace with developments in the world."
Work on the roll-out of 4G services to other cities in the country is reportedly underway, and Mboweni said that Econet, and its sister companies Liquid Telecom and ZOL, has been investing heavily in the deployment of “world class” telecommunications services in the region.
“Our network is used almost exclusively by the business community in Zimbabwe and we have a duty to ensure that they have the most advanced services available,” said Mboweni.
Econet was a frontrunner in the deployment of 3G services across Africa, and its subsidiary Liquid Telecom recently partnered with French vendor Ekinops for the roll-out of a long-haul DWDM network spanning South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia.
