Econet Shutters Kwesé TV

Zimbabwe’s Econet Wireless has shut down its African pay-TV unit, citing market conditions and content price inflation.

“It is a difficult decision that we could not postpone,” the company said in a statement. “Over the last four years, we sought to disrupt Africa’s media landscape and enable Africa to tell its own stories using a variety of technologies, including satellite broadcast, video streaming and free-to-air TV. The Econet Group invested heavily into Econet Media and supported the business over the period it operated without any third-party funding. Unfortunately, market conditions and content price inflation got in the way of us completing our mission.”

The statement continued, “The Econet Group is entrepreneurial and believes in Africa and its potential. Our belief in ‘an inclusive connected future that leaves no African behind’ remains undaunted.”

The rest of the Econet Group businesses continue to operate as per usual, as each of the companies are separate legal entities with their own management teams and boards.