Econet Wireless sim cards find lucrative market in South Africa

ECONET mobile phone sim cards intended for sale in Zimbabwe continue to find lucrative markets in neighbouring South Africa, where black marketers are doing brisk business.

The sim cards, which are readily available in many bus stations here, fetch around R700 each, compared to those of South Africa’s three mobile phone networks which are priced at least 99 (SA) cents.

The Econet sim cards price is a 100 percent increase from the previous year.

It emerged that the black marketers where buying them through unofficial channels in Zimbabwe.

“I buy the sim cards from traders who buy them on the black market in Zimbabwe. They range from R400 to R500. I sell them to Zimbabwe-bound travellers at R700,” said a trader at Johannesburg Park Station.

Another trader said the business was lucrative in South Africa, unlike in Zimbabwe, where the crisis-torn country’s currency had become worthless.

Efforts to obtain comment from Econet officials were unsuccessful but the company, which also has operations in other countries like Nigeria, has indicated that it is aware of the sale of sim cards in South Africa.

Sim cards are in demand in Zimbabwe where they are in short supply owing to mobile companies’ challenges to obtain foreign currency.

Econet, the biggest player in the industry in Zimbabwe, is one of three mobile network providers in the country, the other being NetOne and Telecel.