Working from home currently being implemented by many corporates in the country as part of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 is boosting business for the leading telecommunications giant, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited, the company has said.
Since the placing of the country under lockdown in March last year, as the government tried to manage the spiralling of coronavirus cases in the country, a number of companies and organisations across the country are having part of their employees working from home.
Employees working from home rely on the internet, phone calls and other related services offered by mobile phone companies such as Econet.
Zimbabwe this week retreated to a stiffer Level 4 lockdown in which citizens are encouraged to remain home unless they work for companies providing essential services, making working from home and online ideal for many corporates.
“We continue to enable our customers to work and learn from home whilst observing social distancing etiquette,” said Econet secretary, Charles Banda, in a trading update for the third quarter ending 30 November 2020.
“This is reflected in the data traffic volumes which have increased by 89.5% from the previous year. The growth we have experienced in SMS volumes reflects the increased adoption and usage of e-commerce platforms which drives customer SMS interactions. We aspire to be the partner of choice for enterprises, SMEs, the government and other institutions in order to grow our active customer base and sustain voice traffic volumes.”
Banda said while voice traffic volumes declined slightly following the headline tariff adjustments in July 2020 and August 2020, they had since started to recover.
“This price correction for telecommunications services was necessary as price adjustments were lagging behind inflation, in the previous periods,” said Banda.
He said the Covid-19 pandemic had helped them understand opportunities presented by digitalisation.
“While managing the risks, we are also alive to the opportunities presented by Covid-19, particularly the accelerated need for digitalisation across all business sectors,” he said.
“Telecommuting and serving our customers through digital channels has become our preferred way of doing business. 80% of our staff continue to work from home with sustained high productivity. Our past investment in resilient network infrastructure has positioned us to be the digital connectivity partner of choice.”
Over the last 22 years, of its existence, Econet has introduced products and services that have harnessed the power of mobile technology and innovation.
“As we go into the next decade, we are intensifying our efforts to adapt our business model to deliver digital solutions,” added Banda.
“The next few years will be pivotal to our transformation from a communications service provider to a digital service provider.”
