Harare — The three mobile phone operators in Zimbabwe have introduced "per second" billing ahead of the end of this month deadline which the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority had set.

As the name implies, "per second" billing allows subscribers to be charged for every second of a minute they spend on the phone unlike the "one minute and 30 seconds thereafter" system which operators have been using since the introduction of mobile phones in the late 1990s.

The three mobile phone providers Econet, Net One and Telecel introduced "per second" billing starting last week, beating the deadline in a move that analysts and subscribers have welcomed. Potraz director general Engineer Charles Sibanda applauded the mobile companies for beating the deadline

"The deadline expires at the end of September so those that have already introduced per second billing have done well," he said. According to a new tariff schedule that Econet announced, it will cost between US$0,0035 and US$0.0042 per second for a call depending on the network one is calling.

Multiplied by one minute, the "per second" billing cost still amounts to the same cost as the "per minute" billing although it is fair to people who spend less time on the phone.

Subscribers had long since called for the introduction of "per second" billing as they argued that operators were prejudicing them when their calls were shorter than one minute.