POTRAZ posts $13,5m surplus in FY17

STAFF WRITER

The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) posted a surplus of $13,5 million in 2017 on the back of an uptick in revenue and enhanced cost containment measures by management.

In 2016, POTRAZ recorded a surplus of $7,8 million. Revenue was 26 percent above target to $31,9 million in 2017. Operating costs were contained through various efficiency measures which resulted in 27% savings on the budgeted expenditure to achieve a healthy surplus.

In a statement accompanying the annual report, board chairman Ozias Bvute said the revenue for the Universal Services Fund (USF) performed above expectation by 11 person. Operating expenses were contained and 79 percent savings were achieved against POTRAZ budget.

Bvute said an operating surplus of $14,9 million was realised for deployment to meet the USF`s mandate.

“The Board of Trustees made a major advance towards an investment during the year which saw the USF depositing $19,1 million towards the acquisition of 60 percent of Telecel International, the shareholder of Telecel Zimbabwe. The acquisition significantly strengthened the USF’s Statements of financial position from $21,4 million in 2016 to $32,1 million in 2017,” he said.

Bvute said USF also provided internet access to the underserved communities and the disadvantaged citizenry.

“This tactical drive saw the deployment of more than $7,3 million towards the construction of Community Information Centres across the country, internet connectivity for rural schools and provision of computers for e-learning in many schools,” Bvute said.

POTRAZ director-general Gift Machengete said the authority has embarked on roadshows last year to educate consumers on their rights in Midlands, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South.

The roadshows were a success as the outreach exceeded 10 000 consumers. Machengete said POTRAZ attended to 22 complaints from postal and telecommunication consumers and operators in 2017, down from 41 in 2016.

He said the regulator continued to monitor performance of operators in terms of quality of service (QoS). Last year, POTRAZ read the riot and penalised the country’s three mobile network operators for failing to meet quality of services. Econet, NetOne and Telecel and were fined $73 604,28, $10 892,89 and $8 856,07 respectively.

Machengete said operators were served with warnings and were granted grace periods to address challenges afflicting their respective networks.

“On a monthly basis, performance statistics were shared with operators to alert them of their shortcomings. In spite of foreign currency challenges, there was a general positive trend in QoS performance.”

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button