daniel chigunweBusiness Reporter
STATE-OWNED fixed telecommunications firm TelOne last year invested US$8,5 million in network modernisation and deployment of Long Term Evolution(LTE) base stations across the country.
The telecommunications company is one of the parastatals and State enterprises the Government has put under the direct control of the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF) so that they maintain profitability or become profitable if not already there, and build up investment assets that belong to the citizens.
The MIF is a result of the recently upgraded and extended Sovereign Wealth Fund.
In a statement following its annual general meeting held last week, TelOne said through its own internally generated funds during the year under review, it made notable capital investments to support its growth strategic drive.
“TelOne requires an injection of US$250 million to enable deployment of network infrastructure as well as digital platforms and the company continues to pursue initiatives to raise funding for infrastructure development and network upgrade projects.
“During the period, the business had funded US$8,5 million towards modernisation of systems and deployment of Long Term Evolution (LTE) base stations,” it said.
Key projects embarked on include increased investment in fibre rollouts to replace legacy copper networks, LTE carrier aggregation in Chitungwiza, upgrade of Harare Metro ring to 100Gb, Service Control Gateway and Bandwidth manager successfully implemented which resulted in improved customer experience.
The Broadband Remote Access Server (BRAS) in Harare and Bulawayo was also upgraded to improve the quality and speed of broadband services in the network.
TelOne said foreign Legacy loans significantly impacted the company’s financial statements, hindering the ability to attract new capital for infrastructure projects.
Despite the vandalism of its infrastructure, the entity said during the year under review it has been progressively developing its network capabilities which resulted in volume growth in data sales by 29 percent.
On market share and business growth, the telecommunications firm said it recorded a 32 percent increase compared to 27 percent in the prior year and in 2024, the trajectory is expected to continue.
This is buoyed by TelOne’s continued drive to service the market with various digital solutions.
In 2023, the firm’s total subscribers for voice and home broadband grew by 5 percent to 397 278.
“The increase was hugely influenced by significant growth in fixed VoIP subscriptions as corporates and households continued to adopt more VoIP lines than traditional landlines due to their reliability, cost-effectiveness and convenience. This growth was further supported by investment in network deployment which saw an 18 percent growth in fibre to the home deployment and 11 percent growth in the total fibre network,” said TelOne.
Meanwhile, during the period under review, the telecommunications firm struggled with widespread cable theft.
“Surging copper prices and a struggling economy have led to a surge in thefts of copper cables and other vital network equipment across the country. Rampant vandalism, targeting over 60 percent of the company’s infrastructure, is significantly impacting the business’s ability to deliver quality services.
“During last year, 426 incidents of vandalism affecting 44 200 clients were reported. This resulted in an estimated loss of US$707,064 in restoration costs and US$339,311 in revenue loss,” it said.
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