ABSTRACT
In July 1998 Econet Wireless had just received the license to operate a second mobile telecommunications network in Zimbabwe. The grueling battle with the government for the license had spanned five long years, and had been fought as much in the tribunals of public opinion as in the courts of law. Even though the company officially had the approval to operate a network, significant challenges lay ahead for Econet’s founder Strive Masiyiwa and his team. First, the Zimbabwe Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (PTC), which had enjoyed a monopoly on all telecommunications services in the country, had a two year lead in the mobile telephony business and had cornered much of the corporate market. Second, the Zimbabwean government had recently announced the award of a third mobile telecommunications license, in a country with only 11.5 million inhabitants. Third, significant sums of money would have to be raised to fund the huge up-front investments that the business needed. Finally, telecommunications was a sector with a very high level of governmental intervention, and Masiyiwa was unsure of how the long and bitter five year battle with the government would affect the company’s ability to compete.
