Telecel demands action on refilling

Published: 02 July 2014

Telecel Zimbabwe says mobile phone companies are being prejudiced of potential business and revenue by the high prevalence of traffic refilling.

General manager Angeline Vere on Monday appealed to government through Parliament to criminalise possession of equipment used to commit the telecommunication fraud.

" . . . By traffic refilling, I am talking about those people that are not licensed to provide telecommunications services but have the devices which allows them to take telephone traffic from outside the country and they get paid for at international rates. They bring the traffic to Zimbabwe and they send the traffic to our networks appearing as if it's a local call," he said.

She appealed to legislators to review the law dealing with refilling to make penalties higher and more stringent to deter criminals from practising traffic refilling.

"On prevalence of traffic refilling cases, the sentences currently provided for operating telecommunication services without a valid license are very low.

"Right the penalties are like imprisonment up to a maximum of two years. The law must be amended to criminalise possession of equipment used to commit the fraud."

Vera bemoaned high costs of borrowing to fund base capital intensive investments and said that her company was negotiating with financiers to tap into funds to expand the network and introduce more services.

She said load shedding was pushing operational costs up since the company had to invest in batteries, solar and fuel.

"We are also facing a challenge with power supply and load shedding as some base stations are perpetually on generators because there is no electricity connection."

Telecel Zimbabwe employs 934 employees, and has 3 600 telecash and has managed to create 5 000 downstream jobs.

Vere was providing oral evidence before the portfolio committee on Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services.
- Zim Mail

Tags: Telecel,