Amid increasing competition amongst Zimbabwe's mobile operators for subscribers, Econet Wireless has bolstered its post-paid offering with packages at $15 a month and capped at $200 for the same period.

The fight for subscribers in the Southern African country is reported to be on the increase, despite the mobile penetration rate rising to almost 100%.

There are about 9 million subscribers on Econet Wireless' network, with half of these predominantly based in the capital, Harare. However, owing to growing distortion of active subscriber numbers, due to multiple sim card holders, Econet is now seeking to push through its contract line package which gives it guaranteed usage over a 30 day period.

"The income from contract lines is guaranteed as compared to pre-paid platform, and if you can have as many users on contract you know (what) you will get in revenue, an advantage the pre-paid platform does not offer," a telecoms executive said on Tuesday.

Rangarirai Mberi, the communications manager for Econet Wireless told ITWeb Africa that the Strive Masiyiwa founded telco had rebranded its contract line package from Business Partner to Econet Premium. Additionally, the platform now comes with an option of purchasing a smartphone on contract.

The category aimed for the top end of the premium segment allows subscribers to manage and control usage of their accounts. They will also have the option to top-up when their accounts reach the limit.

"The lowest priced package is $15 a month for which you get 40 minutes voice Econet-to-Econet calls, $5 voice to the other networks, and 120MB data. The upper end is a $200 package that gives you 1,400 minutes on-net voice, $50 to other networks, and 1.9GB data," the company said.