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So… What Exactly Is Econet InfraCo?
By TechBytes Africa
Over the past few days, Econet InfraCo has started appearing in conversations around Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s restructuring. For many people, the name has raised more questions than answers. Is it just a tower company? A property business? A financial vehicle? Or something else entirely?
A look at Econet InfraCo’s own website offers useful clues — and helps clear up some of the uncertainty.
The Basics
Econet InfraCo is not a new mobile network operator, and it is not replacing Econet Wireless Zimbabwe. Instead, it is a separate company created to own and manage infrastructure — the physical assets that make digital services possible but usually sit quietly in the background.
According to its official site, Econet InfraCo focuses on three main areas:
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Telecommunications infrastructure, mainly towers and related passive assets
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Power and energy solutions, through Distributed Power Zimbabwe
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Property and land assets, developed to support digital and industrial use
In simple terms, InfraCo owns the things that networks, data services and businesses depend on — rather than selling airtime, data bundles or mobile services directly.
Why Split Infrastructure from the Mobile Business?
This is where some of the confusion comes in.
Traditionally, telecom companies own everything: the network, the towers, the power systems and the customer services. But globally, many operators have learned that infrastructure behaves very differently from telecom services.
Infrastructure assets:
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Are expensive to build
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Last for decades
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Generate steady, predictable income
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Attract long-term investors rather than short-term traders
By separating these assets into a standalone company, Econet is effectively saying: let the mobile business focus on customers and innovation, while infrastructure is run as a long-term asset business.
This model isn’t unique to Zimbabwe. It’s already common in other markets, especially around tower companies and energy-backed infrastructure.
What InfraCo Actually Does Day to Day
Based on the information published on its site, Econet InfraCo’s role is fairly practical:
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It owns and operates towers that can support multiple networks through co-location
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It provides power solutions where grid reliability is a challenge
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It develops and manages property that supports digital and industrial infrastructure
This means its revenues are not driven by consumer spending patterns, but by long-term contracts and infrastructure usage — which explains why the company places emphasis on predictable cashflows.
Why the Market Is Still Uncertain
The uncertainty isn’t surprising.
Infrastructure companies are less familiar to many local investors, especially when compared to traditional listed telecom businesses. Add to that Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s planned delisting from the ZSE and the proposed listing of InfraCo on the VFEX, and it’s understandable that people are still trying to connect the dots.
Another factor is timing. Econet InfraCo is being introduced at a moment of broader economic adjustment, when investors are cautious and clarity matters more than ever.
What’s missing for many observers is not intent, but education — a clearer explanation of how this structure works and why it exists.
What This Signals About Econet’s Direction
Taken at face value, InfraCo appears to signal a longer-term shift in how Econet views its role in the economy.
Instead of being seen purely as a telecom operator, Econet is positioning part of its business around national infrastructure — connectivity, energy resilience and physical assets that support digital growth.
That matters because reliable infrastructure underpins everything from mobile networks to data centres, cloud services, smart cities and industrial development.
The Bottom Line
Econet InfraCo isn’t a mystery vehicle or a speculative play. It’s a structural reorganisation of assets that already exist, presented in a way that aligns with how infrastructure is valued globally.
Whether the market embraces it will depend less on slogans and more on transparency, execution and continued communication. For now, the most accurate way to think about InfraCo is this:
It’s the quiet, asset-heavy part of the Econet ecosystem — built to last, designed for scale, and meant to support Zimbabwe’s digital economy long after the headlines move on.
