A Zimbabwean internet and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services company, Brodacom, has secured a credit facility to fund the company’s network expansion.

Brodacom’s parent company, Valley Technologies that has a Class B Internet Access Provider licence (IAP), has upgraded this to an A Class licence, which allows it to offer combined voice and data services.

“The next round of financing will see additional capital – debt equity financing, being injected into the business,” said Brodacom chief executive officer, Zach Wazara.

He said the additional capital, valued at $30 million, would be used to spread the company’s network rollout in areas such as Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare.

“Work has already resumed and we have teams on the ground in both Harare and Bulawayo to complete the coverage in those cities. We expect Mutare to be switched on once the interconnection is completed,” he added.

Wazara said for Mutare, the company has “already installed” base stations while eight additional base stations are being built for Bulawayo – Zimbabwe’s second biggest city and 12 for Harare, the capital.

“We should start working on the cities and we aim to be done over the next six months,“ he said.

Brodacom is already interconnected for its VoIP telephony services with Econet and Telecel – the two biggest mobile network operators in Zimbabwe.

Econet and Telecel have about 80% of the mobile voice market while state run Net*One is the smaller player.

Brodacom is yet to have an interconnection agreement with Net*One although sources at the company said an agreement to interconnect with Tel*One, the government run fixed phone operator would be completed soon.

The Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) authorised VoIP services after intense lobbying from players in the telecommunications sector, with tariffs having been set at an average of $0.06 cents per minute for intra calls and $0.12 cents per minute for calls to other network operators.

Mobile tariffs across networks are charged on average at about 24c a minute in Zimbabwe.

Other companies offering internet voice call services in Zimbabwe are Econet and Telecontract as well as Aquiva Wireless.