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Business Reporter
THE postal and courier services sector volumes increased by 21,8 percent in the first quarter of 2021 to 483 391 items from 396 975 in the fourth quarter last year due to relaxed lockdown measures implemented early this year.

Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country in March last year, the Government imposed restrictions to curb the spread of the pandemic and this affected mail distribution.

However, Covid-19 restrictions were relaxed early this year and this saw postal and courier volumes improving by 21,8 percent.

In its first quarter telecommunications sector performance report for the period ended 31 March 2021, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe said: “Total postal and courier volumes improved by 21,8 percent to record 483 391 items from 396 975 items recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020.”

During the quarter under review, Potraz said mobile penetration rate declined by 2,7 percent to reach 87,8 percent compared to 90,5 percent in the last quarter last year. It said active subscriptions have been experiencing seasonal fluctuations over the past year due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on demand and consumer behaviour.

Total mobile voice traffic increased by 3,5 percent to record 1,56 billion minutes in the first quarter this year from 1,51 billion minutes in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Fixed telephone voice traffic declined by 13 percent to record 85,5 million minutes in the first quarter of 2021, from 98,2 million recorded minutes in the fourth quarter last year.

In terms of revenue performance, the mobile operators recorded a 12,3 percent improvement to record ZWL$13,8 billion from ZWL$12,3 billion recorded in the fourth quarter last year.