Ericsson and Econet Wireless Zimbabwe have signed a memorandum of understanding at MWC Barcelona 2026 to jointly design, test, and deploy next-generation mobile services in Zimbabwe using AI-driven network optimisation, 5G Advanced technologies, and enhanced security. The agreement formalises a technology roadmap between two companies with more than 20 years of network infrastructure partnership, and aligns directly with Zimbabwe’s ICT Policy 2022 to 2027.
- The MoU covers AI-driven radio access network optimisation, energy-efficient network evolution, 5G Advanced features, exposed network APIs, network slicing, and IoT-enabled services. The focus spans both performance improvement and a reduction in network carbon footprint through energy-efficient LTE and 5G architectures.
- Econet Zimbabwe Deputy CEO Roy Chimanikire said the partnership aims to evolve network capabilities in line with customer expectations and national digital priorities, integrating AI-driven automation with sustainable network solutions to enable new digital opportunities across Zimbabwe.
- Alain Maupin, Ericsson’s Vice President and Head of East and North Africa, described the deal as establishing a framework for testing and deploying technologies that improve network resilience, automation, and service innovation for both urban and rural communities.
- Target sectors include education, healthcare, enterprise, and industrial digitalisation. Network enhancements are projected to improve capacity, reliability, and efficiency in underserved areas where Econet already operates base station infrastructure built on Ericsson equipment.
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe is the country’s largest mobile operator and among the most commercially ambitious telecoms groups in Southern Africa, with a portfolio spanning EcoCash mobile money, Cassava Fintech, and broadband services. The Ericsson relationship has underpinned its core and radio networks for two decades, which means the MoU is less a new partnership than a technology upgrade roadmap formalised at the world’s largest telecoms trade show. The timing matters: Zimbabwe’s digital economy is at an early but accelerating stage, with mobile money already embedded in daily commerce, and the government actively pushing ICT-led growth as a pillar of the 2030 development vision. 5G Advanced and AI-native network capabilities would, if deployed at scale, meaningfully expand Econet’s ability to serve enterprise and public sector clients with quality-of-service guarantees that current 4G infrastructure cannot reliably deliver.
The Bigger Picture: MoUs signed at MWC are plentiful and not all translate into deployed infrastructure. The credibility of this one rests on three factors: Ericsson already supplies Econet’s network, so no new vendor relationship needs to be established; Zimbabwe’s ICT policy explicitly targets the sectors the MoU addresses; and Econet has the commercial motivation of defending market share against Telecel Zimbabwe, which is also modernising. The constraint, as always in Zimbabwe, is macroeconomic: foreign currency availability for network capex, import duty structures on telecoms equipment, and the pace of regulatory reform on spectrum allocation for 5G bands will determine whether the MoU becomes live infrastructure or a document signed in Barcelona and shelved in Harare.
Source: New Zimbabwe
