By Wallace Mawire
Emerging from a short period of challenges, Telecel Zimbabwe, has appointed a female representative, Angeline Vere, as Chief Executive Officer to spearhead direction and be on the helm of the mobile telecommunications company.
“I have been in this organisation since 2004 so most of you already know me. As the new CEO, I intend to ensure that Telecel continues to fulfil its commitment to providing it’s customers with high-tech mobile phone products and services at an affordable cost, especially during these economically difficult times,” Vere told Journalists at a press reception.
She added that her job and for her management team will be to deliver results.
“Everything we do will be geared towards adding value and contribute to our goals. I expect that we will continue to be the market leader in innovation in the telecoms market, highly respected by our customers, feared by our competitors, and loved by our stakeholders,” Vere said.
She said that in pursuance of their commitment to offer affordable service to valued customers, Telecel is bringing on to the market new affordable offers like the Super Voice Bundles, which was recently launched. The Night Chat promo and the 073 4 Free Weekend promo will be launched before mid-month.
On the distribution of infrastructure development Vere said that the company intends to embark on franchise roll-out, kiosk roll-out and signing on of additional new dealers on the back of a revised commission system.
“In light of the current economic depression being experienced which has not spared any industry, telecommunications included, we continue to review our operating cost to ensure that we maintain the value offer to our subscribers. Of late the industry has been affected as more people are finding it difficult to maintain their communications budget. The situation has been further compounded by the emergence and rapidly increasing Over The Top (OTT) communication alternatives such as WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook,” Vere said.
She also added that government through Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) significantly reduced telecommunications tariff charges by 35% effective January 2015. It is against this background that Telecel is continually seeking ways of optimising on costs.
Initiatives include a network optimisation programme targeting key sites and ensuring 100% availability for better network service delivery, through its works council Telecel has been exploring human resources cost containment measures.
“We are happy to advise that Telecel has not reduced staff salaries at the moment but, like all organisations in this tough operating environment, is constantly looking for all available ways to optimise operating costs,” Vere said.
The company has also paid the licence installment that was due for the month of June in line with their agreement with POTRAZ.
“We are already preparing for the next installment which is due in December this year in accordance with our contract with the regulator and the government of Zimbabwe,” she added.
Vere added that Telecel remains fully committed to working with the government of Zimbabwe to meet and better all legal, financial, operational and regulatory requirements within the agreed time frames.