Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz), both Telecel and NetOne have experienced a consistent decrease in active subscriptions in the last five quarters. As a result, Zimbabwe’s mobile penetration rate fell by 1.6% to 92.6%. However, Econet was the only mobile operator to register growth in active subscriptions, albeit a marginal 0.1%.
In the first quarter of 2023, the total number of active mobile subscriptions declined by 1.7% to 14.05 million, down from 14.3 million in the previous quarter. Econet had the highest number of active subscribers of the three, standing at 9.99 million, followed by NetOne at 3.75 million, and Telecel with only 307,795 active subscribers.
Telecel’s subscribers dropped by 21,1% from the previous quarter, while NetOne fell 4,5%.
The report shows that NetOne and Telecel lost subscriber market share by 0,7% and 0,5%, respectively, in line with the decline in their active subscriptions. Conversely, Econet gained subscriber market share by 1,2% in the first quarter of 2023.
The Potraz report also showed that mobile voice traffic declined by 16% to 2,5 billion minutes in the first quarter of 2023, from three billion minutes recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.
It said net-on-net traffic has been consistently declining and the trend continued into the first quarter of 2023.
“As with fixed voice traffic, the decline in mobile voice traffic may be attributable to the 50% increase in tariffs in February 2023,” the report said.
The Potraz report also showed that mobile voice traffic declined by 16% to 2,5 billion minutes in the first quarter of 2023, from three billion minutes recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.
It said net-on-net traffic has been consistently declining and the trend continued into the first quarter of 2023.
“As with fixed voice traffic, the decline in mobile voice traffic may be attributable to the 50% increase in tariffs in February 2023,” the report said.
Substitution of traditional voice with over-the-top VoIP also plays a significant factor. The continuous decline may also be attributable to the deteriorating quality of service due to loadshedding resulting in lower call-success ratios.”
Econet and Telecel lost voice market share by 2,6% and 0,2%, respectively. On the other hand, NetOne gained voice traffic market share by 2,8%.
Mobile internet and data traffic increased by 12,3% to record 37 690,4 Terabytes in the first quarter of 2023, from 33 576,4 terabytes recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Econet`s market share of internet and data declined by 7,2%, which was gained by NetOne. Telecel`s market share remained unchanged.
The report shows that aggregate operating costs continued to grow by a margin that surpasses growth in aggregate revenue, an indication that mobile operator operating costs are fast closing in on revenue, which indicates diminishing operator profits.
The operating costs galloped by 25,7% to $102,8 billion in the first quarter of this year compared to the prior period.
