TelOne A Complete Let Down

Formerly known as PTC, TelOne is Zimbabwe's only fixed telephone operator. In 2003 the government of Zimbabwe issued a licence to a second operator called TeleAccess which subsequently failed to roll out service largely due to the deteriorating Zimbabwe economy and a badly buttered Zimbabwe currency.

30 years on after the country's independence in 1980 TelOne is still the sole operator with a mere 10% penetration rate out of a population of more than 13 million people. TelOne is presumably short for telephone one which communicates market leadership, quality and trusted service.

The company which is currently owned and controlled 100% by government is riddled with a severe infrastructural decay that has badly affected national service delivery. It's equipment besides being obsolete time and again breakdown especially in rainy seasons.

Nearly 10 years into the Internet age, TelOne still only provides Internet dial-up a very slow and obsolete method of connecting to a modern multi-media connected world. The company's tariffs have been widely questioned with customers complaining of receiving erratic bills. More than that the tariffs are beyond the reach of many becoming a huge portion of the overall company overhead structure.

Applications to TelOne for service can take as long as months to years. Often corruption is also rife amongst some of its employees who accept bribes to install or implement technical jobs expediently.

The government of Zimbabwe under the tight control of Zanu PF has been linked to strong interests in TelOne for the main purpose of monitoring of telephone conversations of opposition figures and even its own people.

Today in Zimbabwe mobile phone operators are relied on more than TelOne. Many business offices lack land line telephone connections and rely on mobile phones. Recently in order to meet the growing telephony demand, the company introduced CDMA wireless handsets which became extremely popular and eventually overcrowded. These now serve much better often than fixed lines. However they are still limited to Harare the capital of Zimbabwe.