Total revenue by telecommunication firms grew by 14,5% to $262,02 million in the third quarter ended September 30 from the previous quarter attributed to an improved revenue performance from mobile operators and internet access providers (IAP), a new report has shown.
BY TATIRA ZWINOIRA
In the second quarter ended June 30, revenue was $228,74m.
According to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) report released yesterday, voice calls declined by 3,6% to record 19 158 891,48 hours from 19 876 199,5 hours in the previous quarter.
“The growth in mobile and IAP revenues led to a 14,5% increase in total telecommunication revenues to record $262 021 721 from $228 748 120 recorded in the previous quarter. On the other hand, total revenue generated by the postal and courier operators declined by 0,2% as a result of depressed volumes,” the telecoms regulator said in the summary of the report.
“Postal and courier volumes declined by 2,4% to 2,2 million from 2,3 million postal and courier items recorded in the second quarter of 2016.”
Mobile operators experienced a 20,4% increase in revenue to $194,5m from $161,53m recorded in the previous quarter. Monthly reports by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe have shown an increase in mobile transactions on a month-on-month basis.
Mobile data utilisation experienced a 16,1% growth to 2 157,9 terabytes (TB) in the period under review from 1 857,9TB recorded in the previous quarter.
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“The total mobile data usage for the first nine months of 2016 was 5 526,3TB and has already exceeded 3 622,9TB used in 2015. As demand for internet keeps increasing, operators have been increasing capacity to match the demand. Equipped incoming international internet bandwidth increased from 75 230 megabyte per second (Mbps) to reach 75 385Mbps following commissioning of an additional STM1 (155Mbps),” Potraz said.
IAPs revenue grew 1,2% to $39,36m from $38,9m recorded in the previous quarter.
However, Potraz said the third quarter of 2016 was characterised by a decline in active mobile and internet subscriptions, which saw the mobile penetration rate declining to 94,3% from 97%.
This is the first time that the mobile penetration rate has declined since 2015, Potraz said.
