It’s bad news for Netone subscribers as the service provider announced yesterday (24 February 2022) that they will be increasing the data, voice and SMS bundle tariffs.
This move comes as a shock to many Netone subscribers because Netone increased the tariffs on the 2nd of February, almost three weeks ago.
The exchange rate for the USD and local currency keeps increasing at an astonishing rate on the black market. The rate currently sits at US$1 for ZWL$240.
It seems as though every time the rate increases, service providers amend their prices to match the black market rate even though there is an official bank rate. Below are some of the new prices compared to the old prices.
The price hikes by Netone are out of this world. Their hourly bundle was $250 ZWL for 1GB valid for 1 hour. Now it is $1650 ZWL!
Many Netone users have shared their opinions of the price increase on social media. Most people probably expected a slight increase to align the new prices with the black market USD rate as that is what most service providers do. No one expected the price increase to be two or three times more than the previous prices.
This will definitely have an effect on a lot of people and Netone’s competitors. With other service providers like Telone also significantly raising their tariffs, we are bound to see a lot of hopping around as people shift from one service provider to the other.