Zimpapers Logo

Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
STATE-OWNED telecommunications company, NetOne, has led the development of mobile telephone infrastructure in the third quarter ended September 30, 2021 on the back of a partnership with Huawei Technologies.

Of late, NetOne and the Chinese multinational technology firm have partnered in upgrading mobile network services aimed at improving efficiency in mobile broadband.

Four months ago, President Mnangagwa officiated at the NetOne, Huawei Mobile Broadband (MBB) Phase 3 project, which is an information technology project aimed at supporting the country towards the attainment of an upper middle-income economy status by 2023 and the National Development Strategy 1(NDS1) as it is an enabler for development, communication and business investment.

According to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz), players in the sector increased the number of base stations in the country to 9 099 cumulatively in the third quarter ended September 30, 2021 from 9 045 in the previous quarter.

From the above figures, Potraz said:

“A total of five new 2G, 12 new 3G, and 37 LTE eNode Bs were deployed in the third quarter of 2021, bringing the total of base stations to 9 099 from 9 045 recorded in the second quarter of 2021.”

From the above new base stations deployed during the quarter under review, Potraz indicated that NetOne had four 2G base stations compared to privately-owned entities, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe and Telecel Zimbabwe, which had one and nil respectively.

In the quarter under review, NetOne deployed 12 base stations for 3G network while Econet and Telecel did not have any.

For LTE, similarly NetOne was the only mobile network operator that provided such base stations, deploying 37 of them while Econet and Telecel had nothing.

“NetOne has partnered with Huawei on a broadband expansion project, hence the high number of deployment in the quarter under review,” said Potraz.

The Government through Potraz has promulgated the compulsory sharing of telecommunications infrastructure sharing policy by players in the sector with a view to improve basic service standards and assisting the country to reduce importation of the infrastructure.

In the quarterly postal and telecommunications sector performance report, Potraz said NetOne has gained market share of 2G, 3G and LTE by 0,1 percent, 0,4 percent and 2,2 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, during the period under review the country’s telecommunications and postal services has maintained a growth trajectory on the back of strong performances across segments.

Despite the rise in operating costs in line with inflationary pressures, the mobile operator’s revenues grew by 15,8 percent to $19,5 billion compared to $16,8 billion recorded in the second quarter of 2021.

The growth in revenue is attributable to the growth in voice traffic as well as Internet and data consumption.

The revenue contribution of voice service, however, declined whereas the revenue contribution of Internet and data was on the upside. — @KazungaOliver