VimpelCom says it is transforming its business model from the traditional focus on telecommunications into an integrated digital technology and communications company in light of projected decline in revenues from voice and SMS.

In a report titled The Mobile Economy Africa 2016, GSMA said that revenue growth rates for African mobile companies - which topped 3.8% at 53.5 billion in 2015 - will slow down in the next five years.

According to GSMA, telcos in Africa will need to cultivate and broaden new revenue streams.

VimpelCom has a strong presence in Algeria, with Djezzy raking in US$1.2 billion in service revenues in 2015.

The company's plan for the Africa market is to expand its business operations "to generate new revenue streams, such as mobile financial services, and to meet the needs of our customers as they navigate the digital world".

It has also invested in data networks, winning a licence to offer LTE services in Algeria last month. Algeria is notorious for price wars between rival operators.

VimpelCom operates the Djezzy mobile company in Algeria and has agreed to sell its 60% majority stake in Telecel Zimbabwe to the government.

"Our other business in Africa is Telecel in Zimbabwe, which as you are aware, we have reached an agreement to sell to ZARNet," VimpelCom said.

However, the deal has not yet been concluded owing to complications around payment remittance for the shares and VimpelCom still controls the Zimbabwean operator.

"VimpelCom has embarked on an ambitious program to transform the company into a digital technology communications leader from a traditional telecommunications provider," said Neil Moorhouse, a spokesperson for VimpelCom.

VimpelCom has a significant presence in Algeria and its unit there, Djezzy, competes with two other mobile operators. VimpelCom has also confirmed to ITWeb Africa that it subscriber base has surged to 17 million in Algeria.