ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe says 40 000 customers have signed onto its pay TV service Kwesé TV, resulting in the creation of over 2 200 jobs.
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
Speaking to NewsDay on the sidelines of the official launch of Kwese TV in Zimbabwe last week, Econet media director Zachary Wazara said the sales trends of Kwesé remain positive.
“The total should now be over 40 000 [Kwese subscribers] in Zimbabwe. The sales rate has been the same ever since we started and it is phenomenal. In fact, what we are seeing is that people from all walks of life are coming through and buying, which is creating that kind of momentum. Our challenge is getting enough installers,” he said.
“We have probably recruited over 1 200 installers and we continue to recruit those and we need to double, if not triple the number so that is a growing thing which is really one of the key issues. Yes, we are talking about Kwese the entertainment side, we are talking about the sport and all that, but the impact of job creation has been really awesome.
“We probably have over a 1 000 brand ambassadors that have been recruited specifically for this and we continue to recruit them.” He said the number of installers was expected to double or triple as more subscribers signed on and would create downstream employment as installers often subcontract others.
With a $49 monthly subscription fee for Kwese, Econet has created a $1,96 million monthly revenue which is expected to increase at the same rate as subscriptions.
One of the major selling points of Kwesé is when customers purchase the decoder, they can connect four mobile devices to the account as one account comes with up to five TVE accounts.
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Econet Wireless Zimbabwe CEO Douglas Mboweni said the launch of Kwese represented the total convergence of the telecommunications, media and technology business model and would soon be doing “TV roaming” in other countries where Kwese was available.
To support Kwesé TV, Econet has rolled out more than 575 fixed Wi-Fi hotspots and 240 mobile sites throughout the country, in collaboration with its sister company ZOL.
