Converged mobile network operator, NetOne has registered a record 90 000 new subscribers to take their active subscriber database to 4,8 million as indicated in the first quarter sector performance report released by POTRAZ.
This signals a 1.9% increase in the state owned mobile network operator’s active subscriptions from the previous tally of 4,712, 410 recorded in the last quarter of 2016. These statistics mean that NetOne leads now leads the mobile revolution, as the operator continue to close the gap between itself and perennial leaders Econet Wireless who registered a paltry 0.5% to take station their active subscriptions at 6,39 million from the 6,36 million registered in 2016.
NetOne’s positive performance can be attributed to the hot selling of their OneFusion since the product’s in 2016. The operator went on to launch new products early this year, One-Fi and OneCliq, which were received well in the Internet service provision market by subscribers.
Telecel were the only poor performers in the first quarter of 2017 which saw their active subscriptions falling by -1.1% sizing down their subscriber database to 1,78 million.
Zimbabwe’s combined telecoms sector registered a total active mobile subscriptions of 12,977,315 in the quarter under review. This represents a 0.8% increase from 12,878,926 recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016. An active mobile line is one which has been used to make or receive a call and/or send or receive a message at least once in the past 90 days.
Table 3 Showing Active Subscriptions Per Operator
Using the 2017 population figure of 13,727,493 as per projections by ZIMSTAT, the mobile penetration rate was 94.5%. This represents a 0.3% decline from 94.8% recorded in the previous quarter. Active and total subscriptions per operator are given in table 3 above.
As shown in figure 3 below, voice service is still the major revenue contributor contributing 58.9%. The revenue contribution of data and internet services is improving after having contributed 21.5% in the quarter under review, up from 20.2% recorded in the previous quarter.
The Average Revenue per User per Month for the mobile operators declined by 13.1% to record $3.98 from $4.50 recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016. On the other hand, the Average Cost per User per Month increased by 3.7% to record $3.07 up from $2.96 recorded in the previous quarter. As a result the Average Margin per User per Month declined by 40.9% to record $0.91 from $1.54 recorded in the fourth quarter of 2016.
