60pc connected on mobile: Potraz

DESPITE having an “over-subscribed” mobile penetration rate of 106 percent, POTRAZ estimates that only 60 percent of the Zimbabweans are actually on mobile device or have multiple-active mobileSIM cards (Unique subscriber penetration). This was revealed by a POTRAZ official responding to a question at the recently held Enterprise Office Communication Summit in Harare.

The POTRAZ official, Mr Shingirai Marufu, said although Zimbabwe’s mobile penetration has reached 106 percent, the actual head count of people in possession of these SIM cards is only 60 percent of the population which translates to 8,4 million people.

This obviously raises questions regarding mobile penetration and some key decisions that may have been made due to misplaced assumptions.
For instance, recently the Minister of Finance, Cde Patrick Chinamasa, imposed a 25 percent duty tariff on mobile devices and other IT gadgets because Zimbabwe had achieved over 100 percent mobile penetration, hence the previous duty-free tariff on mobile devices had “achieved its purpose”.

Cde Chinamasa said: “Handset purchases have increased significantly and mobile telephone penetration rates have also increased substantially to over 100 percent. Customs duty reduction has, thus, achieved its intended purpose. I, therefore, propose to levy customs duty on mobile handsets at a rate of 25 percent, with effect from 1 October 2014.”

Following recent criticisms that most African markets count SIM cards instead of unique subscribers, The African Wireless Communications Yearbook reports that the GSMA recently cut penetration statistics on Africa and says South Africa reported a peak penetration of 115 percent, but the actual figure is 85 percent.
The realism seemed to have escaped Zimbabwe until recently.

In fact, posing a question to POTRAZ at the Enterprise Office Communication Summit, Mr Alvin Musingezi, a senior data analyst with Deloitte Zimbabwe, suggested that an over-subscribed mobile penetration could indicate problems more than successes in adoption – now more apparent since adoption is in the hands of only 60 percent of the population.

One potential problem all this could be pointing out is that service and pricing in Zimbabwe in not near good enough hence consumers feel the need to own multiple SIM cards. Consumers cannot rely on one carrier for a great service and a great deal.—TechZim.