Yes, Landlines Still Exist — And They’re Changing in Zimbabwe

When Potraz releases its sector reports, we usually focus on the mobile telecoms side of things because that’s one most of us interact with on a daily basis.

However, there is something interesting going on in the fixed telephony sector (landlines).

Unsurprisingly, there has been a transformation as technology has advanced and today we shall talk about it.

The Fourth Quarter 2024 Potraz report shows that the sector is experiencing modest growth in subscriptions. However, there is a change in how its services are being used.

As you would have guessed, its mostly driven by tech advancements and internet-based communication.

It’s not just mobile operators losing out to cheaper internet-based voice communication applications like WhatsApp. In fact, if you think about it, fixed telephony stands to lose even more, even though it mainly caters to business.

What the trends say

If you can believe it, there is a slight upward trend for fixed telephony subscriptions.

According to the report, the total number of active fixed telephone subscriptions increased by 1.01%, rising from 295,056 in the third quarter to 298,047 in the fourth quarter of 2024.

This growth resulted in a tiny little increase in the fixed tele-density, moving from 1.92% to 1.94%.

It means that for every 100 people, about 1.94 have a fixed-line telephone connection (like a landline), up slightly from 1.92. That’s a very low figure, reflecting how rare landlines have become.

That 1.94% figure is exactly why we sometimes overlook this sector. Only 1.94% means that for every 100 people, about 1.94 have a fixed-line telephone connection (like a landline).

That’s a very low figure, showing just how rare landlines have become. One could argue, they have always been rare in Zimbabwe as many of you who tried, for decades, to get their hands on landlines before the mobile boom often attest.

However, there is some more interesting stuff to discuss in here. The fixed sector has two main technologies: the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) lines offered by TelOne and the newer Fixed Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services.

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) – Is the old-school landline system that uses copper wires and telephone exchanges to connect calls. It’s what people have used for decades to make regular home phone calls.

Fixed Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) – This is a newer way of making phone calls using the internet instead of traditional phone lines. The phone is still in a fixed location (like in an office or home), but the call travels through internet cables, not the old phone network.

In Q4 2024, PSTN lines were still the most popular. They increased by 0.78% in the fourth quarter to 261,075 lines.

The Fixed VoIP segment is growing at a faster rate though, increasing by 2.67% to reach 36,972 subscriptions. It might be gradual but its a shift towards internet-based fixed communication services.

Subscriptions are one thing and voice traffic is another. When you look at this, the slow rise of VoIP over PSTN becomes clear.

In Q4, TelOne saw total voice traffic decrease by 5.99%. Unfortunately, this was across most traffic categories, including net-on-net calls (-5.17%), outgoing to mobile (-7.04%), and incoming from mobile (-5.83%).

There was a rather comforting stat for TelOne though, international outgoing traffic saw a notable increase (69.85%). Although this wasn’t enough to offset the decrease in other categories.

The main reason for this voice traffic decline is the substitution effect of Over-The-Top (OTT) communication applications we talked about.

WhatsApp, Zoom, Facebook Messenger, and similar stuff, which utilise the internet to offer voice and video calling are cheaper alternatives to traditional fixed-line calls.

Do note that Fixed VoIP falls into this category to an extent. It is using the internet to make calls and so contributes to declining PSTN voice traffic.

Unfortunately, we don’t know how much of the data numbers were for VoIP calls. Data traffic information is not broken down by the type of application using the data (e.g., whether it’s used for VoIP calls, browsing, streaming, etc.).

Again, mobile operators are dealing with the same issue of declining voice traffic because of these internet based options.

Fixed VoIP

In contrast to the declining PSTN voice traffic, the growth in Fixed VoIP subscriptions shows a move towards fixed internet-based communication. Even if we don’t know exactly how many minutes Fixed VoIP subscribers used.

Within the Fixed VoIP market, it’s somewhat competitive. Liquid continues to hold the largest market share, with 53.94% of subscriptions in Q4 2024, followed by Africom with 22.71%.

I know that many will be surprised to find out that Africom still commands such a market share. The company has had its struggles over the years but they have this to hold on to, I guess.

That said, 22.71% of 36,972 ≈ 8,395 subscribers and I don’t know if that’s enough to sustain a business.

On top of that, both Liquid and Africom saw a decline in their market shares during the quarter (Liquid by -3.51 percentage points and Africom by -0.80 percentage points).

Dandemutande recorded a significant gain in market share, increasing by 4.47 percentage points to reach 17.71%. TelOne and Telco also saw small market share declines.

Still a place for fixed telephony?

While traditional fixed lines are seeing declining voice traffic due to OTT adoption, the growth in Fixed VoIP shows that there is still a role for fixed connections, especially those using the internet.

This is in line with the overall growth in internet and data consumption across the country.

In short, landline phone use is growing slowly. Fewer people are using the old-school landlines (PSTN) because they’re switching to digital options. There’s a small but important move toward using internet-based landline phones (Fixed VoIP), and different VoIP companies are gaining or losing customers as things shift.

Even though landlines aren’t as popular as mobile phones, this shows clearly how internet services are changing the way people communicate in Zimbabwe.