NetOne is the biggest loser of subscribers and Telecel loses 56.5% of its mobile internet traffic

Edwin Chabuka

7 September 2023

Mobile subscriptions as a whole dropped in Q2, a trend that has been consistent since Q3 2022. This time around NetOne lost the largest chunk of subscribers at 5.2% (193,126 subscribers). An interesting stat is the number of subscribers NetOne lost in Q2 of 2023 is equivalent to 63% of Telecel’s subscribers (307,534). It’s fascinating how Telecel still manages to keep its doors open with how its numbers are looking.

Telecel is the only MNO to not record a loss in market share with NetOne giving up 1.2% of it to Econet. The mobile penetration rate dropped by 0.7% to 91.9% at the end of March 2023.

For the past 2 quarters, NetOne has consistently gained mobile voice traffic market share with a 2.8% gain in Q1 and a 3.5% gain in Q2 2023. Econet has been the biggest loser in mobile voice market share for the same period (2.6% and 3.2%), and Telecel barely lost mobile voice traffic (0.2% and 0.3%) over Q1 and Q2 2023.

Econet makes up for it with its mobile data market share

Mobile data consumption got an overall increase of 11.6% with Econet mopping up most of the gains. It seems whatever voice traffic Econet lost in mobile voice traffic it made up a lot for it in mobile data. Telecel continued its trend of losing traffic seeing a 56.5% drop in mobile data. That is over half of their data traffic which is a double blow considering Telecel has the most fairly priced data bundles of the 3 MNOs.

Another very worrying Telecel stat is that their data traffic at the end of Q2 2023 was over 22x less than the data traffic NetOne lost in the same period.

MNOs are pushing on with 4G coverage

Investment in mobile network infrastructure was mainly focused on LTE. 243 new 4G deployments, 83 new 3G deployments, and 37 new 2G deployments. Econet still holds a 100% share of 5G base stations at 22 sites. This figure has not changed since Q2 2022.

Telecel’s infrastructure is lagging substantially with a share of just 0.% of the total LTE deployments in the country. So they may have affordable data bundles however they don’t have enough mobile internet coverage for their subscribers to capitalise on them which contributes to their extremely low mobile data traffic.

Also read:

Connectivity, Telecommunications

21 comments

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Flysiddthesoulutionexe

7 September 2023 17:39

🤔🤔Telecel is coming back into the circle

Reply
Stylish

7 September 2023 19:11

Telecel should just quit the race for sure

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1. D.K.
  
  8 September 2023 07:56
  
  From how it has been operating, it is a miracle for it to be still up and running. I sometimes use it when it is working, and when it works, it really does work! However, I have some strange feeling that theis MNO may have been put in a “feeding pen” by someone or some grouping who will clinch it when it gets to a certain efficiency of operation.
  
  Reply
2. @SaucyPervert
  
  8 September 2023 10:18
  
  Telecel closure? To answer your question No they won’t quit as they are a parastatal company they will use whatever resources available at their disposal to keep offering the best service they can to their customers so long they have ties with the government they are not going anywhere until of course the government as a major shareholder injections much needed capital to revamp the company.
  
  Reply
D1vant

7 September 2023 20:20

Telecel’s mobile data is not fairly priced at all. Wtf

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Core95

7 September 2023 20:37

If you’ve ever lived in the rural areas you will realise just how much of a gap there is between the townsfolk and those in the countryside. Mostly it’s 2g which is crappy and a 3g which is way more crappier.
Netone and telecel should just merge into something that’s more competitive for Econet. Otherwise it’s always going to be a one horse race which we the subscribers have to content with unreasonable voice and internet charges.
Imagine if starlink is licenced and we already have mnos struggling to stay afloat. That would be a game changer.

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1. The Last Don
  
  8 September 2023 08:09
  
  Dzimwe nguva mbeva zhinji hadzina mashed.
  It’s about commitment to serve and perform one’s obligations to the letter. I believe Econet’s dominance is a both a combination of the desire to provide telecommunications and ICT services and shrewd business acumen. Remember they initiated this mobile telecommunications business when none of us thought it was possible in our rotten economy. The government tried all it could to prevent them from launching. The formation of Net*One was just to prevent Econet from launching on the pretext that the economy could not support two mobile operators.
  Net*One hasn’t come of age to date. They are still playing second fiddle. Econet innovates and tries to move with the times.
  As for Telecel zvaingovawo zvemusangano zvechigandanga so trying to merge the two is just like trying to multiply a number by zero. Haichinje.
  Yaa all the network operators don’t give a hoot about the rural side of the the service. I think it is because of what they get out of those base stations in revenue. Most use their phones to mostly receive calls from townsfolk. Try looking for them on instant messengers they are offline because they can’t afford data bundles. Eish….
  
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  1. Anonymous
    
    8 September 2023 14:37
    
    spot on
    
    Reply
  2. Tkt
    
    9 September 2023 08:11
    
    I differ with you. Rural folks are always offline due to the poor network infrastructure
    Had it not been of such, revenue from there would be better
    
    Reply
    1. Quantam Entanglement
      
      9 September 2023 12:35
      
      I’d say both can be true at the same time
      
      Reply
2. Flysiddthesoulutionexe
  
  8 September 2023 13:29
  
  Apa mambo nepoint yenyu mapedza 🤝🏾🤝🏾🤝🏾
  
  Reply
Munashe

8 September 2023 07:58

Netone needs to take more competitive when it comes to it’s mobile data coverage. In Marlborough I have had bad experiences with it and I’m seriously considering going back to econet.

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tha.Designer

8 September 2023 10:16

Choosing a network in Zimbabwe is just like being given 3 devils and told to pick a better one

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Blessed

8 September 2023 11:07

Netone may have lost subscribers because of the time people couldn’t find Netone hot recharge anywhere.

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1. D.K.
  
  8 September 2023 21:05
  
  Since the time they stole airtime within and then instituted some measures, I have not been able to buy airtime using a bank or local currency mobile wallet. They are part of government and I cannot and should not give them my hard earned foreign currency. In a typical parastatal way, they do not seem to worry or care as they go for the US dollar.
  
  Reply
Anonymous

8 September 2023 23:12

I’ve had a netone line for 3 years. Mainly for onemoney. Internet has only worked a few times. Netone is not at Nyamapanda or Mukumbura Border Post. Which other remote border posts are they not at. Econet seems to be the only one.

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Glaurung The Dragon

9 September 2023 05:59

All 3 MNOs are crap. We are getting a raw deal from them. Expensive data bundles that work half of the time!

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Chasura

9 September 2023 09:09

I am not shocked with Netone they are killing themselves with removing the RTGS bundles and pushing people to use the US$ bundles almost everything in netone is now US$

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BasestationPamumhuOne

11 September 2023 06:28

Huyai kuTelecel, sometimes ndinenge ndiri the only oone connected paBase station

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1. Telecel Gangster
  
  11 September 2023 18:40
  
  😂😂😂😂… absolutely true… Telecel huchi
  
  Reply
juvana john

17 January 2024 08:23

NetOne records a significant loss in subscribers, while Telecel experiences a notable 56.5% decline in mobile internet traffic.cox communication billing issues These shifts underscore the dynamic nature of the telecommunications industry, where companies navigate challenges and opportunities in retaining users and sustaining data traffic.

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