Vongai Masuka

The Director General of the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ),  Dr Gift  Machengete, yesterday revealed that the regulator registered a significant growth in mobile subscriptions, internet usage, and revenues in the country this year, a development that indicates growth in the sector.

In his report,  Dr Machengete revealed that a 6.0% increase in active mobile subscriptions was recorded, rising from 13,955,937 in the previous quarter to 14,794,579.

“The third quarter of 2023 saw a 6.0% increase in active mobile subscriptions from 13,955,937 recorded in the previous quarter to 14,794,579.
This translates to a 5.6% increase in Mobile penetration rate to reach 97.5% from 91.9% recorded in the second quarter of 2023.” Reads the report.

The report also notes that the sector witnessed a 7.5% increase in the total number of active internet or data subscriptions.

“Internet and data usage increased by 6.2% to reach 44.67 petabytes PB from 42.06 PB recorded in the second quarter of 2023. Used incoming and international internet bandwidth capacity increased by 6.6% to record 333,915 Mbps from 318,742 Mbps recorded in the second quarter of 2023,”

“This is attributed to digitalization of business e-learning adoption by the education sector and the substitution effect of over the top (OTT) media services among other things,” the statement reads.

In terms of voice traffic, POTRAZ has recorded a decline of 3.3% fixed voice traffic over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

“PSTN fixed voice traffic declined by 3.3% to record 70.0 million minutes from 72.4 million minutes recorded in the second quarter of 2023. On the other hand mobile voice traffic increased by 30.0% to record 3.29 billion minutes from 2.53 billion minutes recorded in the previous quarter,”

The third quarter of 2023 also saw a rise in revenues and costs across all segments. Internet service providers’ revenues saw substantial growth, increasing by 138.1% to reach $449.3 billion Zimbabwe dollars, compared to $191.2 billion recorded in the second quarter of 2023. Meanwhile, wireless operating costs increased by 14.4%, totaling 256.2 billion Zimbabwe dollars, up from ZWL 224 billion in the previous quarter.