Zimpapers launches Mobile News Service on Telecel
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Mr Marandure

Herald Reporter

ZIMPAPERS has become the first media house to roll out mobile news services across all the three major telecommunications networks in country in an effort to provide all Zimbabweans with an opportunity to stay abreast of breaking news by receiving text message alerts through their phones.

This follows the organisation’s recent move to extend its mobile news service to subscribers on the Telecel platform.
This means that the group’s two most popular titles – The Herald and The Sunday Mail will be available to Econet, NetOne and Telecel mobile networks.

In an interview, Zimpapers Group chief technical officer Mr Darlick Marandure said the development was a significant feat as the organisation’s mandate is to ensure that news is accessible to everyone around the country.

“This is a great achievement for us now that we are living in a technologically advanced world. With mobile news services, we are able to reach areas where the hardcopy reaches late or where it does not reach at all,” he said.

“We are proud to say that we are the first media house to have mobile news across all telecommunications networks in the country. We started with Econet in May last year, we then engaged NetOne in April this year and just recently, we have launched the service with Telecel.”

He said the mobile news service would provide the most up to date news on the local and international scene, sports news, entertainment news, fashion news, finance news and general news on various topical issues. “We are happy to note that we are reaching about 200 000 subscribers through Econet. Initially our target audience was those who cannot access the hard copy but we are noticing that our main subscribers are urban dwellers,” he said.

“We want our customers to get the ‘newspaper experience’ on their mobile phones courtesy of the Zimpapers Group.”
Mr Marandure added that his information communication technology department would also introduce more features to the mobile news service such as the breaking news service for people who are keen to know what is happening around the country.

Subscribers to the service will pay $3,50 a month to get news delivered every day. Subscribers choose upon registration if they want SMS or MMS depending on their type of phone.

For $3,50 a month one gets the most important headlines of the day and the service has been very successful in terms of subscription numbers.

Technology experts say African mobile phone use is booming and the continent now has at least 650 million subscribers, more than the United States which represents a 40-fold increase since 2000, according to the World Bank.

Experts say these phones have become lifelines for poor communities and innovators across the continent have found ways to employ cell phones, even without the internet, as mobile banks, business development tools and mapping devices.

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