PowerTel Communications says it will not lose sleep over the recent launch of Starlink in Zimbabwe adding it can match the speeds and affordability of the globally recognised satellite internet giant.

Acting Managing Director Willard Nyagwande told journalists at a connectivity products briefing in Harare that the company has set aside US$10 million to improve the service and give it the much-needed competitive advantage.

“The speed for Starlink goes up to 250 Mbps; it’s not a secret, ours can go up to Gigabit per second,” he said.

“We can bring Starlink and our fibre here and do the test today, ours is faster.

PowerTel Communications, which has been relatively quiet in the internet service industry, revealed some six months ago it was pursuing domestic and foreign partners to roll out a new optical ground wire (OPGW) project and bolster internet connectivity.

The service provider is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), licensed by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) as a Class ‘A’ Internet Access Provider.

The company operates an optic fibre backbone network, an optic fibre distribution network and optic fibre and wireless access networks.

Technology experts say fibre internet is faster than Starlink internet and the cost of fibre plans is usually lower too, but fibre is more limited in availability.

Fibre internet is delivered through cables to send data via electricity.

This makeup results in blazing-fast internet speeds of up to 1 Gbps.

Nyagwande also revealed that a 200km of ZESA and PowerTel line has been connected to Bikita Minerals to alleviate the sector challenges.