16 May 2019

Telecel Zimbabwe head office, Harare, Zimbabwe

Telecel, Zimbabwe’s third largest mobile operator, has lost over half a million subscribers, according to the sector performance abridged Q4 sector report.

The company was once Zimbabwe’s second largest mobile operator, but its continued loss of subscribers and failure to match rivals’ network expansion has seen it fall to third place behind Econet Wireless and NetOne, respectively.

According to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority Sector Performance Report of 2018, Telecel’s performance showed no signs of positive gains where other operators managed to experience growth.

Active mobile subscriptions went up 1.3 per cent to 12,908,992 from 12,748,551 recorded in the third quarter of 2018. All the mobile networks, apart from Telecel, recorded growth in active subscriptions.

According to the Sector Performance Report, Telecel’s voice traffic market share declined from 4.2 per cent in the first quarter to 3.8 per cent in the last quarter.

The decline is consistent with the decline in its subscriber base. Mobile internet and data utilisation increased 15.7 per cent in the quarter under review as all the mobile operators recorded growth in this space. Mobile internet and data usage consistently increased during the course of the year and Telecel moved by 0.1 per cent from first to last quarter, attributable to a declining subscriber base and low connectivity.

The company said it will inject USD540m into its operations over the next five years to improve service to its subscribers. Telecel chief executive officer Angeline Vere revealed the plan during a familiarisation tour by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Information Communication Technology and Courier Services in March 2019. The committee wanted to understand the operations of the mobile network operator, its operational challenges and how government as a major shareholder could assist it in overcoming them.

“Telecel is looking at a fiveyear investment plan, in total we are looking at USD540m spread over five years with the biggest investment in the first two years. The investment will bring the network into the modern era,” said Vere. “We will have 4G which will assist a lot of businesses in Zimbabwe. We are looking at giving a smart service to the generality of Zimbabweans through that investment, so our customers out there should expect a very modern network.”