TelOne Crop Monitoring will allow farmers to subscribe to the service and map their field by inputting co-ordinates, the company says.

A household survey by Zimstat in January found that 76,56% of people’s spending is now in US$, with just 23,44% in Zimbabwe dollars.

Fossil bought the company from Holcim, as part of the French company’s global selloff. Fossil then announced a series of management changes and promised new capital.

Retailers just can’t compete with cheap imports and the unregulated informal market.

To make it work, Dangote entered talks through the Black Rhino Group, an infrastructure investment arm backed by US private equity giant Blackstone.

Gold earnings have been strong this year, rising 88% to US$3.76 billion in the first 10 months, helped by record output and prices near all-time highs above US$4,200 an ounce. 

Econet believes the market has failed to properly value its business and its assets.

Econet dominates Zimbabwe’s mobile market, with 88% of voice traffic, 82% of data usage and 73% of all subscribers. It has built the largest portfolio of telecoms assets.