Story By
Jeffrey Mumba

THE Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (POTRAZ) has cancelled Internet Access Provider (IAP) Valley Technologies (Pvt) Ltd's license, after the company reportedly failed to pay required licensing and spectrum fees.
The company
had previously been granted a class A license on the 29th of October
2008 but owed a host of debts to the authority and other companies mounting to
US$2,4 million over the years.
"...Valley
Technologies has been duly informed in writing of this cancellation. POTRAZ
would like the general public and stakeholders to take note of this
cancellation and be guided accordingly," the authority said.
Under POTRAZ
regulations, a Private Telecommunications Network License authorises the
licensee to construct, operate and maintain a private network infrastructure to
carry data, voice and video traffic within an organisation. Internet
connectivity is allowed through a locally licensed IAP. Other Class A IAPs
operating in Zimbabwe include TelOne, Liquid, Powertel, Telecontract, Africom,
Aquiva, Broadcom, Spiritage, Bluesat, Aptics, Dandemutande, ComIT.
In 2012,
Valley was taken over by AfrAsia Kingdom Bank through a debt - equity swop for
80% of the company through the bank's special purpose vehicle, Lalela Trading,
after the telecoms network failed to settle its obligations to the bank.
Analysts blame the demise of the telecoms company on spending too much money before the network had acquired a sufficient number of subscribers adding that this development was painting a bad image of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) services. Reports this year surfaced saying that the company had gone for more than 13 months without paying workers salaries while some of the company property had been attached by creditors.
At one point,
the company announced that it had deployed a 3.9G network. The company also
rolled out Wi-Fi devices in the market in the range of US$250. Consumers
expressed concern over the fate of the devices they had bought from the company
and whether existing IAPs were willing to adopt them and keep consumers online
using those devices.
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