Econet Zimbabwe is to install 10 000 payphone lines before the end of the year, a strategy devised by the company to create employment opportunities in the country.
This is according to Econet group spokesman Sure Kamhunga, who says each payphone line requires an operator, which will help create jobs.
"Employment opportunity and growth will contribute to economic stability, which will help pull Zimbabwe to its feet."
Employment will also be created in the downstream industries that will service and establish the telecommunication sector, he adds. The company expects to create 500 jobs in the construction sector, as well as those that sell phones and accessories.
The payphone project comes in the wake of Econet Zimbabwe`s $20 million expansion programme, driven by Cairo-based African Export-Import Bank, that was supposed to create 50 000 cellular channels, says Kamhunga.
He says it has been decided to channel the funds towards creating payphone lines as a way to widen access to telecommunication services to people who cannot afford cellphone handsets.
Payphones require more network capacity than normal cellphone lines, he says, which is why only 10 000 payphone systems are being released, as opposed to the previously touted 50 000 cellular lines.
"This is easily one of the largest investments this year in our hard-pressed Zimbabwean economy," Kamhunga says.
Network capacity, he notes, would increase the subscriber base by at least 700 000, with the target being a million people in the near future.
Econet already provides 80% of the payphones in Zimbabwe, which are operated under the name "YourFone".
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