By Caven masuku
The Herald paper indicated that the Zimbabwe fixed line telephone service provider TelOne charges are unprecedented and are beyond the reach of their clients. Most house holds in Gweru urban has shown dismay about the charges of phone bills which supersede their salary.
The Herald one of the leading daily papers quoted public relations officer Mr Collins Welbesi who said that telephone usage had not declined since dollarisation."Kindly note that telephone utilisation has not decreased with dollarisation. In fact the billed units for April 2009 are 25 percent above the November/December 2008 average”.
"In Zimbabwe, we are seeing heavy utilisation levels of about 25 000 units per month for residential customers,’’ he said. Perhaps what is bothering people is that they can no longer communicate over the phone the way they use to before because of the abnormal charges that are way-wide”, he said.
In the city of Gweru telone customers have received bills far above US$300 and one customer who called alleged that his bill for April was US$4 000.A survey in Gweru as well as to other big cities in Zimbabwe like Harare and Bulawayo has shown displeasure about the TelOne charges which give them a raw deal.
"We feel robbed and disappointed by the billing system TelOne is using."Is it normal, for a home telephone bill to reach high tariff above US$1800," said one customer who resides in Ivene. TelOne estimation indicates that, the average local telephone usage per month at household level is 100 units, which translates to 300 minutes per month."
At the local rate of US$0, 07 per minute the average bill for a household is U$21. It must be stressed categorically that those customers whose bills are ranging between US$300 and US$500 as stated in your inquiry, did utilise the phone," said Mr Welbesi.
Bills for one customer residing in South-Downs, Windsor Park and Lundi Park stood at US$320 for January combined with February charges.In March the bills surged up to US$250 and after the service provider announced the reduction of cost per minute for all local calls, the April bill stood at US$300.
However, despite these high charges the customer said he only managed to pay what he could afford for all these months above and his phone has not been cut off."I only managed to pay US$20 for each month from February up to April, luckily my phone has not been cut off,’’ said a customer who refused with his name.
The Herald paper indicated that the Zimbabwe fixed line telephone service provider TelOne charges are unprecedented and are beyond the reach of their clients. Most house holds in Gweru urban has shown dismay about the charges of phone bills which supersede their salary.
The Herald one of the leading daily papers quoted public relations officer Mr Collins Welbesi who said that telephone usage had not declined since dollarisation."Kindly note that telephone utilisation has not decreased with dollarisation. In fact the billed units for April 2009 are 25 percent above the November/December 2008 average”.
"In Zimbabwe, we are seeing heavy utilisation levels of about 25 000 units per month for residential customers,’’ he said. Perhaps what is bothering people is that they can no longer communicate over the phone the way they use to before because of the abnormal charges that are way-wide”, he said.
In the city of Gweru telone customers have received bills far above US$300 and one customer who called alleged that his bill for April was US$4 000.A survey in Gweru as well as to other big cities in Zimbabwe like Harare and Bulawayo has shown displeasure about the TelOne charges which give them a raw deal.
"We feel robbed and disappointed by the billing system TelOne is using."Is it normal, for a home telephone bill to reach high tariff above US$1800," said one customer who resides in Ivene. TelOne estimation indicates that, the average local telephone usage per month at household level is 100 units, which translates to 300 minutes per month."
At the local rate of US$0, 07 per minute the average bill for a household is U$21. It must be stressed categorically that those customers whose bills are ranging between US$300 and US$500 as stated in your inquiry, did utilise the phone," said Mr Welbesi.
Bills for one customer residing in South-Downs, Windsor Park and Lundi Park stood at US$320 for January combined with February charges.In March the bills surged up to US$250 and after the service provider announced the reduction of cost per minute for all local calls, the April bill stood at US$300.
However, despite these high charges the customer said he only managed to pay what he could afford for all these months above and his phone has not been cut off."I only managed to pay US$20 for each month from February up to April, luckily my phone has not been cut off,’’ said a customer who refused with his name.
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