New services to drive Econet growth
BUSINESS
| May 9, 2014, 10:24 a.m.
Services that rely on the Econet Wireless network such as EcoCash are set to replace maturing services like voice and SMS as the main sources of growth for the country’s largest operator.
Announcing the company’s latest annual results, Econet Wireless CEO Mr Douglas Mboweni said with penetration now in excess of 103%, there was very limited scope for growth through the acquisition of new customers. He also said that potential new customers now available were generally those who spend less than $1 per month.
Mr Mboweni said this phenomenon was not unique to Zimbabwe but was common where ever you have that level of penetration.
The Econet CEO said the company had long anticipated this development and that is why it has invested heavily in developing the next generation of services, such as EcoCash. He pointed out that EcoCash was already set to replace SMS as a revenue source before the end of the financial year.
EcoCash processed transactions valued at more than $3.1 billion in the 12 months to February 2014, an increase of 315% on the previous year. The service generated more than $44 million fees for Econet.
Other services like EcoFarmer and EcoSchool are already entering into commercial service and will begin generating revenues long before the end of the year. He also said that EcoLife which had been suspended because of a legal dispute would be restored within a matter of weeks. “Yes I am pleased to announce that EcoLife will come back now that we have won the court case. It will be bigger and better than before.”
Meanwhile, Mr Mboweni unveiled two other services that are currently under development. EcoTracker, a motor vehicle tracking service which will have the capacity to track every vehicle in the country, and the HomePowerStation, a solar lighting system which uses a unique charging method on a SIM card.
The two new services that have been under development for more than two years use technology proprietary to Econet and were shown in public for the first time during the presentation of Econet’s annual results.
