According to the recently released second quarter sector performance report by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), we are using an average of 12 million gigabytes of mobile data on annual basis.
The POTRAZ report shows that Zimbabwe has realized a 15% increase in mobile Internet data usage from 2,688,410GB recorded in the first quarter to 3,112,416GB consumed in the second quarter. Considering the continuous significant rise in the use of mobile Internet data, we are likely to see those number staying constant to take Zimbabwe’s annual consumption to an average 12 million by end of this year.
Mobile Internet data consumption has been on the increase in Zimbabwe as the country’s population continue to chase global trends like the evolution of Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT revolution is powered by the technocrat formulas like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), allowing Internet users to go online using mobile devices like smartphones, tablets, ipads, laptops etc.
Zimbabwe’s continuous surge in the use of mobile data can be attributed to the recent investments made by mobile network operators (MNOs). Econet, NetOne and Telecel have made a combined investment of $50.5 million in the second quarter from $10.5 million invested in the previous quarter. This signals a record 382.6% increase in investment channeled by MNOs towards the development of their telecommunications infrastructure to increase capacity.
The increase in mobile Internet data usage has yielded positive results for Zimbabwe’s telecoms which has seen revenues by mobile operators increasing by 3.2% to record $185.6 million from $179.8 million recorded in the previous quarter.
Analyzing the whole POTRAZ report shows that Zimbabwe’s mobile penetration rate increased by 2.5% to reach 97% from 94.5% recorded in the previous quarter because of a 2.6% increase in active mobile subscriptions.
This saw the country’s total voice traffic increasing by 6.3% to record 1,055,844,283 minutes from 993,582,256 minutes recorded in the previous quarter.
