Data and mobile money services could lift Zimbabwe’s largest mobile network, Econet Wireless, to revenues of $800mn.

This is according to analysts reacting to Econet's revenues for the year-ending February 2014 of $753 million and the company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) of $332 million.

Econet has previously publicly stated how its voice revenues are coming under pressure, amid tough competition and growing data usage. According to BuddeComm research, Zimbabwe has a mobile penetration rate of 128% among its 13 million population.

And as a result, Econet -- which has over 8 million subscribers -- has started shifting more focus to its mobile money service EcoCash and even data services by providing bundle promotions to social network WhatsApp.

This is a move that analysts are positive about.

“Our best attempt against the backdrop of no guidance and lack of disclosure in terms of an updated earnings model… we have modelled for revenue approaching $800 million and EBITDA approaching $350 million,” say analysts at Renaissance Capital, in a recent note on the company.

Meanwhile, IH Securities analysts have said in a report on the company this week that EcoCash, which has 3.5 million subscribers, could significantly contribute to revenue growth for the company.

“EcoCash is a product with significant capacity to bring low cost financial solutions to the many Zimbabweans either excluded from or priced out of the banking sector,” said Dzikamai Danha, the head of research at IH Securities in the research note on Econet.

“On the back of the expanding product range and expanding agency network, we forecast a 7% contribution to revenue from EcoCash in FY15,” said Danha.

The IH Securities report goes on to note that EcoCash has approximately 10,000 agents across the country and has opened a total of one million EcoCashSave accounts, “speaking to the platform’s capacity to not only facilitate transactions, but also mobilise funds.”

Apart from the EcoCash platform, the IH Securities analysts added that the potential upside for data revenues is also significant as cheaper devices and more cost effective communication applications are developed.

The report has said that the introduction of such devices have enhanced “the attractiveness of data usage for the average Zimbabwean”.

“One of the key strategic issues in data is therefore the data bundle structures and pricing, with management looking to develop products that complement these applications. We forecast data to rise to 11.5% of revenues in 2015.”

In the year to the end of February, data subscription and revenue growth was in line with expectations at 31% subscriber growth to 4.2mn subscribers and 62% revenue growth to $72mn.

Revenue from data contributed 10% to the company's overall revenue position.

On Tuesday, Sandvine, which offers solutions aimed at maximising revenues and reducing network costs for telecom companies, said WhatsApp bundles introduced by Econet had shown “high adoption rates”.

Sandvine noted that 23% of all Econet network activity is from WhatsApp usage.

"Many subscribers are using first generation smartphones and Talk and Text plans. This (WhatsApp) bundle has opened up an opportunity for Econet to launch service plans that incentivize subscribers to move to data-driven services that are affordable to users and profitable to the network," said Don Bowman, the chief technology officer for Sandvine.