When innovation is just thievery in disguise, the problem is clear.
Some corporate practices are so cleverly packaged that they initially appear to benefit consumers, until one stops to ask who really gains.
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The so-called “off-peak” data bundles offered by mobile network operators in Zimbabwe fall squarely into this category.
Marketed as added value or innovation, in reality they are a subtle mechanism for extracting money from subscribers for data they cannot meaningfully use.
I purchase NetOne’s Mo’Gig monthly data bundle at US$15, advertised as 15GB.
On paper, this seems reasonable, even competitive.
But in practice, only 11.5GB of that data is usable under normal circumstances.
The remaining 3.5GB is reserved for off-peak hours, typically between midnight and 7 a.m.
This is not a minor technicality; it is a fundamental problem.
I am paying for 15GB, yet a significant portion is effectively inaccessible.
I am seldom awake between midnight and 7 a.m., because those are hours for rest.
I cannot reasonably be expected to reorganise my life to stay online through the early hours, nor to wake before dawn just to “use up” a data allocation I have already paid for.
Data is supposed to serve life, not demand that life adapt to artificial corporate schedules.
Second, Zimbabwe’s digital needs are overwhelmingly daytime needs.
Data is essential for work, schooling, research, communication, business transactions, news consumption, and civic engagement.
Students attending online classes, traders advertising goods, journalists uploading content, or citizens following public affairs cannot reasonably shift these activities to 2 a.m. just to access their off-peak allocation.
Part of the data we pay for is only usable at night, when most of us are asleep, yet the networks still charge us for it.
The financial impact of this practice is real and cumulative.
Every month, I effectively lose 3.5GB of data I cannot use, translating to roughly US$3 per month.
Multiply that over a year, and the loss is US$36 per subscriber.
Multiply it further by hundreds of thousands—or millions—of subscribers, and the scale of this extraction becomes staggering.
This is not inefficiency; it is a deliberate business model designed to maximise profit.
Mobile network operators such as NetOne and Econet are fully aware that most subscribers will never fully utilise off-peak data.
That knowledge is embedded in their pricing structures.
Off-peak allocations allow companies to advertise larger bundles without the network being significantly burdened.
In essence, they sell data they know will remain largely unused, and they charge for it anyway.
That is not a technical workaround; it is corporate opportunism.
What makes this practice particularly egregious is the economic context in which it occurs.
Zimbabweans are already under immense financial pressure.
Wages are low, the cost of living is high, and access to affordable, reliable internet is increasingly essential for survival, not luxury.
To charge consumers for data that is unusable in practice is not simply unfair—it is predatory.
Mobile network operators are effectively making profit from restricting access to a service for which customers have already paid.
Supporters of off-peak bundles argue that they help manage network congestion by encouraging usage during quieter hours.
Even if this explanation were accepted, it still fails the fairness test.
Congestion is the responsibility of the operators, who have chosen not to invest adequately in network capacity.
Customers should not be penalised for using data at normal hours.
To do so is to shift responsibility from the operators to the people who have no choice but to rely on their services.
There is also the matter of value and honesty in pricing.
Headline figures like “15GB” create an impression of usable value that does not reflect how subscribers actually live, work, and consume data.
When a portion of that data is locked to hours when most people are asleep, its inclusion in a standard bundle inflates the advertised value without delivering real benefit.
A fair approach would be to separate anytime data from night-only data, pricing each according to when it can realistically be used.
Instead, off-peak data is bundled into standard packages in a way that ensures much of it expires unused, while the subscriber bears the full cost.
This practice is effectively legalized theft.
Data that cannot be used expires, but the money paid for it does not.
Every month, subscribers across the country pay for services they cannot access.
Every month, operators convert unusable data into guaranteed revenue.
And every month, ordinary Zimbabweans are quietly, systematically shortchanged.
Regulators, too, have failed in their duty to protect consumers.
Telecommunications authorities exist to ensure fairness and value, yet off-peak data has become normalized, accepted, and unchallenged.
In a fair system, charging consumers for data that is predictably unusable under normal living conditions would raise serious consumer protection concerns.
Zimbabweans deserve a market where pricing reflects reality, not corporate convenience.
At its core, the issue is one of respect.
If mobile network operators want to sell night-time data, they should do so explicitly, separately, and at a fair price.
Bundling it with standard data allocations to inflate advertised figures while making it practically unusable shifts the burden from company to consumer, exploits a captive market, and corrodes trust.
For me, and for countless others, this means paying every month for data I cannot use, effectively losing both money and opportunity.
That is not a choice—it is a recurring penalty disguised as service.
Off-peak data, as currently practised in Zimbabwe, is not about efficiency, affordability, or consumer convenience.
It is about profit maximisation through engineered inconvenience.
Subscribers are forced to accept the terms of their own exploitation, while operators quietly extract revenue from services that exist largely on paper.
Until mobile network operators are compelled—through regulation, consumer pressure, or public accountability—to align their products with the realities of subscribers’ lives, Zimbabweans will continue to pay for data that cannot be accessed when it is needed most.
Off-peak data is not innovation.
It is daylight robbery, disguised as progress.
TENDAI RUBEN MBOFANA - THE UN-OPPRESSED MIND! 