NetOne rumored to be scrapping benefits & cutting salaries by 28 percent

NetOne headquarters, Kopje Plaza, Harare

WE recently received information from sources close to NetOne that the mobile operator is set to cut salaries by 28 percent and scrap benefits and allowances.

These actions are apparently being prompted by the tough economic and operating environment that NetOne and every other telecoms operator has been operating in.

Assuming that NetOne does follow through with this action it will be joining other telecoms operators like Econet and TelOne which have also made adjustments to their remuneration structures to brace for a dry spell in local business and telecoms.

Econet and Telecel, the other two mobile operators have also added retrenchment as a measure to hem in costs and defend existing operations.

This alternative has been explored by several companies in Zimbabwe following a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that gave employers room to terminate employee contracts with a more flexible play on termination benefits

Like every other local business, NetOne has also been facing its own fair set of challenges. In its latest annual financial results it registered a US$5,8 million loss and it has attributed some of the challenges it is facing to changes in the telecoms environment like lowered voice tariffs, duties on mobile devices and a lowered voice traffic which has been accelerated by communication alternatives like WhatsApp.

NetOne is a state owned enterprise, and earlier this year the Minister of ICT, Supa Mandiwanzira emphasized the need for the operator to deliver results. The operator has since then effected a management shake up.-TechZim