eBusiness Weekly
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is the country’s largest provider of telecommunications services, providing solutions in mobile and fixed wireless telephony, internet access and previously payment solutions.
Econet Wireless was created in 1993 in Zimbabwe by Strive Masiyiwa. Initially it was meant to be called “Enhanced Communications Network” but was later abbreviated to Econet.
It launched its network on July 10, 1998.
The company listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange on September 17,1998 and is currently the largest company on the bourse in terms of market capitalisation with a market capitalisation of $3,78 billion as at Wednesday 20 February 2019.
In 2009, the network became the first operator in Zimbabwe to launch data services under 3G technology. The company’s key infrastructure at the start of 2010 included three switches. In the same year, Econet began building an extensive fibre optic network, and also commenced an accelerated rollout of other key network infrastructure.
EcoCash was officially launched in 2011 and is operated by Econet Enterprises.
Within 18 months of its launch, around 31 percent of Zimbabwe’s adult population registered to the service. By November 2017, the service had over 6,7 million registered users, accounting for 80 percent of adult Zimbabweans or 52 percent of all citizens.
The company continues to upgrade its network to carry more subscribers, and further widen its geographical coverage, which is already the most extensive in Zimbabwe.
Key subsidiaries and associates of Econet are Liquid Telecom, the largest internet service and access provider in Zimbabwe, a leading provider of financial transaction switching, point-of-sale and value-added support services.
Econet was recently demerged into two companies Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and Cassava Smartech and the two companies are in the top three of the biggest companies on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange by market capitalisation.
In line with its Christian-based vision and mission, Econet has a broad strategy for social and community investment, run under the “Econet in the Community” banner. Through these programmes, Econet supports a diverse range of charitable causes, which include children orphaned by AIDS/HIV, religious and church organisations, as well as an annual scholarship program that provides financial assistance to the brightest students selected from schools in the country’s 10 provinces under the Joshua Nkomo Scholarship Fund (JNSF).
