Zimbabwe: Mobile Internet, Data Traffic Up By 43 Percent

The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) third quarter report reveals mobile internet and data traffic rose 43 % amid significant increases in voice traffic.

The report acknowledges the positive growth projecting the sector will keep growing due to the reliance on the internet for business purposes.

“Mobile internet and data traffic grew by 43% to record 14,878TB in the third quarter of 2020 from 10,407TB recorded in the second quarter of 2020. Used International Internet Bandwidth Capacity also increased by 16.8% to record 149,665Mbps from 128,173Mbps recorded in the previous quarter,” says the report.

Internet and data traffic is expected to continue growing due to the increased adoption of e-learning, telecommuting, and e-conferencing.

During the period under review, total mobile voice traffic grew by 18.7% to record 1.56 billion minutes in the third quarter of 2020 from 1.31 billion minutes recorded in the previous quarter.

Fixed voice traffic also increased by 12% to record 90.6 million minutes in the third quarter of 2020 from 80.9 million minutes recorded in the second quarter of 2020.

“The bulk of fixed voice traffic was generated by corporate lines. The growth in traffic is attributable to the upscaling of business operations and the increased number of workforce back at work following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions,” the report said.

Active internet and data subscriptions grew by 5.6% to reach 8,726,904 from 8,267,268. As a result, the Internet penetration rate increased by 3.2%.

Active fixed telephone lines declined by 1.6% to record 256,356 from 260,542; the fixed tele-density remained at 1.8%. The total number of active mobile subscriptions declined by 0.1% to reach 12,783,785 from 12,798,298.

Revenue generated by the mobile telephone networks grew by 195 % to record $8.9billion from $3 billion with mobile network operating costs growing by 24 % to record $2.5 billion from $2.1 billion recorded in the previous quarter.

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