Harare — TELECEL Zimbabwe has signed additional roaming agreements with unnamed international operators as the mobile operator seeks to increase its share of the market as the country steps up preparations for the 2010 World Cup to be hosted by South Africa.

"We believe that quality of (mobile phone) services is going to be an important element for soccer tourists to phone back home and we are working flat out to reduce network congestion to and within international tolerance limits," Telecel chief executive officer Mr John Chibesa said.

The company had to date installed an additional 18 base stations worth billions of dollars in major cities and towns to improve radio capacity.

Mr Chibesa said the company was targeting all major border posts to reduce network congestion during the month-long soccer showcase, which is expected to see up to 300 000 soccer fans descending on the "rainbow nation".

"The company has also targeted all border posts including Plumtree and Chirundu which have just been switched on and Beitbridge is already on air," he said.

He also indicated that Telecel had installed additional base stations in selected areas where severe congestion had been reported.

"Restructuring of roaming services would ensure that the company is able to accommodate roaming by more foreign visitors on its network.

"This would help the company to become a net receiver of roaming revenue, depending on the number of incoming tourists," he added.

However, foreign currency shortages had affected the pace at which Telecel was importing the required equipment.