Cellphone services to be extended from next month

The Herald, 31 July 1999

CELLULAR phone services will be extended to Mutare, Gweru, Masvingo and Marondera and subscribers should be connected before the end of September.

Next on the PTC-run NetOne network plan will be the Harare to Bulawayo highway. Immediately after, service would be introduced in the resort towns of Kariba, Nyanga and Victoria Falls.

In an interview yesterday, a NetOne spokesman said that depending on the demand for cellular service, the network operator would start considering setting up another exchange outside Harare.

The extension of service will see the network increase its capacity from the present 20 000 to between 60 000 and 70 000.

As the network expands, more supplementary features will be added, such as the roaming facility where a subscriber would be able to take their handset to a country which has roaming agreement with Zimbabwe for use there. Other features include voice mail and short message services.

Supplementary services already available include ability to identify callers through the number reflected on their handsets, diversion of calls to another number either on a fixed telephone or mobile network, bar calls at a time of their choice and conference facility where a subscriber can converse with more than one person on the mobile network at the same time.

Meanwhile, NetOne is considering putting up about three more base stations in Harare city centre to cope with the increasing demand for cellular traffic.

Already the network operator has been forced to upgrade capacity of some of its base stations to meet the high traffic created by the more than 12 000 countrywide connections to the network.

“Strained” base stations were those at the National Sports Stadium, the Kopje area, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Southerton, and both city centres of Harare and Bulawayo.

Lessons for today:

The 1999 article from The Herald shows how cellphone services were just beginning to expand in Zimbabwe, with plans to reach cities like Mutare, Gweru, Masvingo and Marondera. Fast forward to today and almost everyone in Zimbabwe, including schoolchildren, owns a cellphone.

What began as a limited service for a few urban areas has grown into nationwide mobile coverage, showing how quickly technology can evolve and spread when there’s demand and investment.

The early efforts to build base stations and expand network capacity laid the foundation for today’s digital connectivity, enabling mobile banking, e-learning, and communication across the country.

Mobile phones have become tools for education, business, health, and social connection. They empower individuals and communities, especially in rural and underserved areas. Cellphones, once a luxury, are now widely accessible, even to school children. This reflects progress in affordability, availability and digital inclusion.