Zimbabwean telcos are adding value to their subscribers through revamped roaming applications and partnerships with regional operators in a bid to capitalise on the influx of the country's informal traders that visit neighbouring countries to buy goods.

The state owned mobile network operator, NetOne has partnered South Africa's MTN to allow its subscribers to top up their cellphones using MTN airtime when roaming in the country.

Econet, its rival operator, on the other hand, has developed a roaming application that is accessible on Android Play store and Apple store.

Zimbabwean operators are increasingly focusing on value added services to cover for declining average revenue per users numbers from the traditional voice category.

A telecom official said on Tuesday that roaming was an important service for subscribers, especially at the current time when most Zimbabweans are involved in cross border trading.

"People are increasingly travelling to South Africa and Botswana at the moment and the process of acquiring new lines there and registering them is cumbersome for most of the travellers who travel for informal trade purposes.

"Roaming allows you to communicate speedily while using your usual contacts book," he said.

Partnering with MTN is expected to give NetOne's subscribers more value and the ability to top up with MTN airtime will be an added advantage, experts say.

"Now Easycall (NetOne) subscribers can recharge their lines with MTN airtime when roaming in South Africa," the state owned telco said.

NetOne has nearly 2.5 million subscribers and is said to have the widest network coverage in Zimbabwe, reaching out to the remotest parts of the country.

It however, has lagged behind in terms of market share, after rival operator, Econet Wireless shot to over 8 million network users.