Zimbabwe: Telecoms Companies Offering Clients Shoddy Services Face U.S.$5k Penalties As Starlink Launches in Zimbabwe

9 September 2024
New Zimbabwe (London)

IN a long overdue development, government has moved to protect users of telecommunications and Internet services, who were traditionally subjected to raw deals by firms offering unreliable services.

Through a Government Gazette published last Friday, Information Communications Technology (ICT) Minister, Tatenda Mavetera put forward the new regulations to penalise service providers failing to offer their clients reliable services.

Telecommunications companies and internet services providers now face the spectre of forking out US$5 000 fines for shoddy service delivery, according to gazetted regulations.

The fines are spelt out in Statutory Instrument (SI) 154 of 2024 and are cited as the Postal and Telecommunications (Quality of Service) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 (No. 1).

The fines will be enforced by the Postal and Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).

The authority shall enforce performance based on the key indicators that include quality of service over a three-month period (penalty cell) for short message service (SMS), (fixed) data and Internet as prescribed or as contracted, for interconnection links as prescribed and submission of network performance data.

Infringements that include call drop rate, call setup success rate, cell availability, data service access success rate and data services drop rate shall attract a US$200 fine per breach.

For SMS, the key performance indicators include SMS end-to-end delivery time and SMS delivery success rate with breaches attracting a US$200 per cell in breach while for data and Internet services providers the performance indicator is speed and shall attract a fine of up to US$5 000 per infringement.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk-owned Starlink has launched in Zimbabwe three months after getting an operating licence in the Southern African nation.

The company will offer services through an approved agent.

According to Starlink's website, the hardware will cost $350 with a $50 monthly subscription and Starlink mini for $200 and a $30 subscription. Unlike in other African countries where Starlink offers local currency denominated pricing, customers locally will be charged in United States dollars.

Starlink's launch in Zimbabwe comes as the satellite internet service continues to make inroads into African countries despite regulatory headaches.

In September 2023, Zimbabwe's regulator, POTRAZ, announced that Starlink applied for a licence but it would later crackdown on unregistered users smuggling devices from neighbouring Zambia, among other countries.

Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.

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