Ericsson is supporting Econet’s 5G and cloud computing roll-out as the Zimbabwean telco accelerates its artificial intelligence (AI) plans.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with ITWeb Africa in Harare on Tuesday, Alain Maupin, vice president and head of customer unit for Middle East and Africa at Ericsson, said Econet was “very aggressive” in its AI strategy.
“For instance, the area of AI strategy, Econet, is very aggressive. They want to go all out on AI, they want to really leverage the good benefits of AI in their infrastructure and operations,” he said.
Maupin, who was in Zimbabwe for engagements with Econet, said the operator “has a clear vision of what they want to achieve” with AI.
The Zimbabwean telco, which also operates a mobile money service, is focused on ensuring its customers receive quality service, including through 5G connectivity and AI.
Dr James Myers, chairman of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, said on Friday that the mobile operator had “moved beyond experimentation” and was increasingly embedding AI into customer experience, network optimisation, operational efficiency, product innovation and new revenue streams.
Econet launched 5G services in Harare, with Ericsson providing technology support. Maupin said there had been strong uptake of 5G among Econet subscribers in Harare and surrounding areas.
He said this was in line with rising 5G adoption across Africa. There were about 30 million 5G subscriptions in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2025, with Ericsson forecasting about 370 million subscriptions in the region by 2031.
“We are seeing significant uptake of 5G in Zimbabwe given that we launched last year,” said Maupin.
He added: “5G represents a large fraction of the overall data traffic and Econet has been one of the most innovative operators we are working with in Africa.”
In addition to integrating AI and boosting 5G adoption, Econet is making progress with 5G Standalone, which combines a cloud-native 5G Core with 5G radio access to support standalone 5G services.
With input from Ericsson, Econet had “made the first call on this technology” recently and was looking to commercialise it in the near future.
Econet has been digitising and modernising its network and operations. It recently migrated to cloud computing, with Ericsson also providing equipment support.
An AI-enabled operating model is positioning the Zimbabwean telco to “capture the next wave of digital ” growth, said Myers.
Maupin said cloud migration brings advantages such as greater efficiency and seamless network software upgrades.
“With cloud computing migration, there are much more efficient service upgrades so you don't have to switch off your network to do software upgrades. You can also synergize resources and in terms of computing you will not need as much computing resources as before migration; generally, you are able to streamline your infrastructure,” he said.
He described Zimbabwe as a “gold mine” of qualified telecommunications engineers, which he said was an important resource for rolling out 5G and AI capabilities across mobile networks.
However, challenges in developing AI skills are emerging across the continent as competition for talent intensifies.
“There is a fantastic pool of engineers and competence in Zimbabwe, which is one gold mine of resources, I would say, for Africa. They are very talented engineers here in Zimbabwe but there is a need to upskill on AI,” he said.
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