Sundaymail Editor
Online Reporter
HIGH costs of internet services and information and communication technologies (ICTs) continues to be the main barrier to internet usage in Zimbabwe, the ‘2020 ICT Access by Households and Use by Individuals’ report shows.
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) released the report this week in collaboration with the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat).
According to the report, respondents said among the reasons for not using the internet were: high costs of internet service (at 40,9 percent), lack of local content (30,9 percent), and privacy or security concerns (29,5 percent).
Barriers to internet access by households were also attributed to high cost of ICT equipment or gadgets (69,1 percent), and high cost of accessing internet services (44 percent).
Mobile phones were the most common gadget used by Zimbabweans, with 89,6 percent of households nationally saying they have a mobile phone at home, up from 88,5 percent in 2014.
A further breakdown of the numbers showed that 85 percent of rural households had access to a mobile phone, while 97,2 percent of urban households said they had access to a mobile phone.
And of the average figure of those with a mobile phone, 58,8 percent had a smartphone.
The study sampled 10 325 households, with a 90,3 percent response rate.
Potraz director general Dr Gift Machengete said such surveys help the authority to come up with measures to cover gaps in internet access.
“In order to plan and strategise on the best interventions to mitigate the gaps in the ICT sector in order to bridge the digital divide, research and needs assessments are essential.
“Research allows the regulator to appreciate the prevailing environment, trends, circumstances and challenges in the ICT sector,” he said.
“We believe that when performance is measured, performance improves, and when performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates. Without measurement, we would not have a clue as to how we are performing or the direction to take for meaningful interventions.”
Online Reporter