Online Reporter
Martin Kadzere
Zimbabwe’s mobile phone companies continue to make more money from data services than from traditional calls and SMS texts, according to a new report from the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).
The report shows that in the second quarter of 2025, data services accounted for almost 48 percent of all revenue for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), though a drop from about 51 percent during the first quarter.
Voice calls contributed 34,29 percent in the quarter under review, a slight increase from 32,28 percent in the first quarter.
This means Zimbabweans are increasingly using their smartphones for things like streaming videos on platforms such as Netflix and YouTube, and for social media on apps like TikTok. Econet dominates Zimbabwe’s mobile market with a 73,23 percent share, while NetOne has 24,23 percent, and Telecel holds 1,99 percent.
To keep up with this high demand for data, mobile companies made a huge investment. They increased their spending by 261 percent to ZiG1,53 billion, primarily to build more network infrastructure. This included the installation of 68 new 5G base stations and hundreds of new 4G (LTE) and 3G base stations.
The shift to data has been good for business overall. MNOs saw their total revenue grow by 9,24 percent to a record ZiG6,71 billion, while operating costs dropped by 5,47 percent, showing they are running more efficiently.
Mobile internet and data traffic saw a significant increase of 14,14 percent, rising from 114.02 petabytes in the first quarter of 2025 to 130.14 PB in the second quarter. The growth was accompanied by a notable 40,89 percent increase in inbound roaming data traffic, while outbound roaming data traffic decreased by 30,22 percent.
“Zimbabwe continues to experience significant Internet/data traffic increases following a global Internet traffic growth of approximately 17,2 percent in 2024. This has been attributed to mobile dominance, increased consumption of data-heavy content, and the continued rollout of high-speed network infrastructure, as indicated by a 36,96 percent increase in 5G base station deployments, among other factors, in the quarter under review,” said Potraz.
Meanwhile, the total number of active fixed telephone subscriptions increased marginally by 0.002 percent from 300 748 in the first quarter, reaching 300 753 in the quarter under review, with fixed tele-density remaining at 1,92 percent.
