ZIMBABWE’S fixed telecommunications service provider TelOne has launched a debt collection campaign as it steps up efforts to clear its cumulative debt of $300 million.
Gamma Mudarikiri Own Correspondent
TelOne, in a notice yesterday, announced that it will from Wednesday to Friday this week, launch a door-to-door campaign in which it will be visiting clients with outstanding bills.
The State-run firm said it will use the exercise to negotiate on a payment plan in clearing the outstanding balances. “Our credit control teams will be conducting premise visits to all clients with outstanding telecommunications service bills from July 24 to 26,” part of the notice reads.
“The mandate of these teams is to confirm the outstanding amounts as well to negotiate payment plans with affected clients.” This followed another notice by TelOne that it had structured a deal with the Public Service Commission allowing civil servants to clear their outstanding debt through a stop order facility.
The parastatal is reeling from a debt of over $300 million which the company has attributed to failure by its customers to service their accounts.
TelOne inherited a $285 million debt from the now disbanded Post and Telecommunications Corporation and it is also battling with an out-dated billing system.
Some of the major problems besetting TelOne is the shortage of skilled human capital, particularly switching technicians for both analogue and digital systems while power outages affect the uptime of exchanges countrywide.
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As such, in 2011 the company recorded a $7,5 million loss. Its subscriber base is the least in the telecommunications industry in the country currently recorded at 470 000 fixed users by households and companies. The figure, however, continues to dwindle as users now prefer mobile phones.
TelOne is one of the 10 parastatals earmarked for restructuring by the government, but the process continues at a snail pace. Through the parastatal’s action plan, TelOne was supposed to be restructured in the first half of this year. However, the government has failed to implement the process within the stipulated timeline.
According to an action plan from the State Enterprises and Restructuring Agency, the engagement of a strategic partner for TelOne would enable the parastatal to take up equity through private placement for the expansion and rehabilitation and refurbishment of existing plant and equipment. This is expected to return the company to profitability.
Other parastatals earmarked for restructuring include Agriculture Development Bank of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Power Company, Agricultural Rural Development Authority, Air Zimbabwe, Grain Marketing Board, The People’s Own Savings Bank, Zimbabwe Grain Bag, Zesa Holdings and National Railways of Zimbabwe, among others.
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