Following a recent cash injection of US$5m from government, a reinvigorated Telecel Zimbabwe plans to woo inactive network users and those subscribers it lost to rival operators NetOne and Econet Wireless.

The government owns a controlling interest in Telecel Zimbabwe after buying out VimpelCom last year.

"Telecel is working on new offerings and services as well as network upgrades which we believe, coupled with our focus on affordability, will see even more customers joining us," said Obert Mandimika, brand manager, Telecel Zimbabwe.

According to the Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz), "mobile lines that exceed 1 year of no activity are removed from the network" by mobile operators.

A Potraz industry report released towards the end of 2016 shows that Telecel experienced a drop in subscriber numbers from 1,9 million active subscribers in the last quarter of 2015 to 1,8 million by the end of the first quarter 2016.

The company has announced a new offering that "gives suspended subscribers bonus airtime, data and SMSs for reactivating their inactive" lines. The benefits are also available to new subscribers.

Returning and new subscribers receive bonus talk time, bonus data and extra text messages. However, subscribers that have been inactive for the past year cannot benefit as they would have been disconnected.

Zimbabwe ICT Minister, Supa Mandiwanzira says the government is looking to raise as much as US$200 million to recapitalise Telecel Zimbabwe and position it as a top player in the telelcoms industry.

Zimbabwean telcos have turned to promotional offerings to drive up subscriber numbers. According to NetOne, its OneFusion promotion has helped its subscriber base jump by 500 000 in the first quarter of 2017.

Clever Isaya, NetOne chief operating officer, Clever Isaya, has been quoted by local press as saying, "In the first quarter, we have acquired more than 500 000 subscribers. This comes on the backdrop of the new package that we introduced in 2016, which is OneFusion."