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Zimbabwe’s NetOne slowly claws back market share

By , Journalist
Zimbabwe , 10 Jan 2014

Zimbabwe’s NetOne slowly claws back market share

Zimbabwe state owned owned mobile network NetOne is hot on the heels of rival Telecel in terms of subscriber number growth.

December statistics from the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) say that NetOne has just slightly below the 2.5 million subscribers that Telecel has.

The statistics say that NetOne has added 350,000 active lines to its network.

However, both NetOne and Telecel’s combined user numbers are far behind Econet Wireless’ 8.5 million network user numbers.

NetOne, which was licensed ahead of its competitors, has over the years been relegated to the smallest player in the Zimbabwean telecom industry.

But NetOne promotions -- which have given subscribers the likes of bonus talk time for top-ups -- has helped boost their numbers.

Meanwhile, the number of network users on Telecel Zimbabwe increased by 100,000 to take its user numbers 2.5 million compared to 2.43 million in March last year.

Telecel, though, is under pressure regarding finalisation of its empowerment plan in Zimbabwe.

Telecel has further denied reports that it is struggling to pay for its licence fee in Zimbabwe.

On the other hand, Telecel rival Econet has 8.5 million network users while the fixed line phone operator, TelOne, continues to lose subscribers, according to Potraz.

By the end of December, users of TelOne’s fixed phone service had declined from 314 622 in March 2013 to 307 202.

Meanwhile, the total number of mobile subscribers in Zimbabwe is up to 13,518,887, according to Potraz.

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