Harare – Zimbabwe’s new steep data prices have fallen following massive outbursts on social media against the tariff hike, with ICT Minister Supa Mandiwanzira, issuing a directive that mobile operators revert to old promotional data fees.The ICT Minister, the telecom industry regulator and Econet Wireless – which was the first to implement the new charges – had been at the receiving end of insults and anger from subscribers.Mandiwanzira said late on Thursday night that he had “directed an immediate suspension of the tariff increases that were effected … to the dismay of many mobile phone users” in Zimbabwe.The decision to reverse the tariffs had been undertaken in consultation with acting ICT Minister Prisca Mupfumira and senior officials from the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz).“I have been told that the new prices were actually proposed by the mobile operators to the regulator. While it is conceivable that the price of data may go up, the margin by which the prices have gone up is shockingly high,” Mandiwanzira said.
Read also: Zim data tariff sparks social media frenzy