The second largest mobile operator in Zimbabwe, Telecel, has said its subscriber base has reached 2.5 million in comparison to Econet’s recently announced 8 million network users.

The country’s third mobile operator, state-owned NetOne, has about 2 million subscribers on its network..

Although Econet and Telecel Zimbabwe have announced a significant boost in their network user numbers, telecommunications experts insisted on Wednesday that multiple SIM card holders distort the number of the companies’ actual and loyal network users.

“With all these mobile operators running promotions, it has become normal practice for people to have two or three sim cards,” said Terrence Zingoni, a Harare based Information and Communication Technology (ICT) specialist.

“It makes it difficult to calculate the number of loyal subscribers, which we think may be lower than the official figures being put forward,” said Zingoni.