Growth in Zimbabwe's mobile market has been hampered by the poor economic climate, exacerbated by taxes and recent measures affecting tariffs on calls and SMS services. The regulator has also proposed a ceiling price for voice and data bundles. Although these burdens have placed greater pressure on network operators, revenue grew by almost 33% in 2018.
The sale of the financially troubled Telecel Zimbabwe was completed in mid-2016, with the government now owing the company through its ISP Zarnet. Organisational changes within the company have caused havoc, leading many subscribers to churn to the other two providers. The government also owns a 60% stake in NetOne, though it has considered merging the operator with its sister company TelOne and selling a majority stake to an international investor in a bid to revitalise the market.
Key developments:
Companies mentioned in this report:
TelOne, NetOne, Econet Wireless, Telecel.
The sale of the financially troubled Telecel Zimbabwe was completed in mid-2016, with the government now owing the company through its ISP Zarnet. Organisational changes within the company have caused havoc, leading many subscribers to churn to the other two providers. The government also owns a 60% stake in NetOne, though it has considered merging the operator with its sister company TelOne and selling a majority stake to an international investor in a bid to revitalise the market.
Key developments:
- Regulator preps for 100 new base stations for rural areas;
- Government enforces m-money interoperability on MNOs, changes m-money tax basis;
- NetOne refreshes m-money service;
- Telecel extends reach of LTE services;
- Regulator confirms no room for a fourth mobile licensee;
- Regulator drafts framework on MVNO licences;
- Government begins $250 million investment to build 500 mobile towers to serve rural areas;
- Econet expands m-commerce;
- Telcos agree to the governments infrastructure sharing policy;
- Report update includes the regulators market data to December 2018, telcos operating and financial data to August 2018, recent market developments.
Companies mentioned in this report:
TelOne, NetOne, Econet Wireless, Telecel.
Table of Contents
1 Market analysis2 Mobile statistics4 Mobile data5 Mobile broadband9 Appendix10 Related reports
3 Mobile infrastructure
6 Regulatory issues
7 Major mobile operators
8 Mobile content and applications
List of Tables
List of Charts
Companies Mentioned
- TelOne
- NetOne
- Econet Wireless
- Telecel.
