News / National
74 percent of Zimbabweans use mobile phones
21 May 2012 at 05:33hrs | Views
ABOUT 74 percent of the country's population are now using mobile phones with close to 10 million lines registered with the Postal and Telecommunications Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz), the regulating authority has said.
Responding to written questions, Potraz public affairs manager Mrs Sibonginkosi Muteyiwa said the subscriber base stood at 9 295 530 against an estimated total population of 12 571 454.
The growing number of subscribers has been attributed to heavy investment in development of telecommunications infrastructure and the adoption of new technology by Zimbabweans.
In September last year, Mrs Muteyiwa said, the country had 9 037 000 mobile phone subscribers and the number has grown to 9 295 530, and that excludes Broadacom subscribers as the information is not yet availed to Potraz.
Broadacom joined the three mobile network providers, Econet, NetOne and Telecel in March when it was officially launched.
The introduction of mobile Internet service in the past months has seen the demand for mobile lines increasing as more people including school children are now connected to mobile Internet.
A snap survey conducted by Chronicle in Bulawayo also showed that many people now use mobile Internet for different purposes.
"Subscriber registration process began in April 2010 when the subscribers' deadline was 31 March 2011. Our subscriber base currently stands at 9 295 530," said Mrs Muteyiwa.
She said since mobile network providers started registering clients at the point of sale, Potraz had not followed the deadline.
"Registration of new subscribers is ongoing on purchasing of new lines and we are yet to get information from Broadacom."
Last year Potraz sent an alarm to subscribers from the three mobile phone service providers when it set a deadline for registration of Sim cards, failure of which clients would be disconnected.
The deadline was extended a number of times until the regulatory authority suspended the idea indefinitely when the three mobile networks, Econet, NetOne and Telecel, started registering clients when buying lines.
Mobile network operators have also increased the number of services ranging from Internet, data bundles, emergency credits, and other promotions to provide best value to clients.
Econet Wireless public relations officer Mr Rangarirai Mberi said they had 6,4 million subscribers.
This means the mobile operator commands about 70 percent of the total subscriber base.
Telecel Marketing representative, Mr Obert Mandimika said Telecel subscribers had increased by 23 percent with about 1 877 585 now connected to the service provider.
"Our base as at end of April was 1 877 585 active subscribers marking a more than 23 percent growth since the beginning of this year. We have introduced a number of services like caller tunes. We are working on a number of initiatives to avail even more value to our subscribers and at the same time we are working on capacitating our network through new geographic expansion for both 2G and 3G and the results should start showing around the end of next month countrywide," said Mr Mandimika. NetOne's subscriber base stands at 1,5 million.
Responding to written questions, Potraz public affairs manager Mrs Sibonginkosi Muteyiwa said the subscriber base stood at 9 295 530 against an estimated total population of 12 571 454.
The growing number of subscribers has been attributed to heavy investment in development of telecommunications infrastructure and the adoption of new technology by Zimbabweans.
In September last year, Mrs Muteyiwa said, the country had 9 037 000 mobile phone subscribers and the number has grown to 9 295 530, and that excludes Broadacom subscribers as the information is not yet availed to Potraz.
Broadacom joined the three mobile network providers, Econet, NetOne and Telecel in March when it was officially launched.
The introduction of mobile Internet service in the past months has seen the demand for mobile lines increasing as more people including school children are now connected to mobile Internet.
A snap survey conducted by Chronicle in Bulawayo also showed that many people now use mobile Internet for different purposes.
"Subscriber registration process began in April 2010 when the subscribers' deadline was 31 March 2011. Our subscriber base currently stands at 9 295 530," said Mrs Muteyiwa.
She said since mobile network providers started registering clients at the point of sale, Potraz had not followed the deadline.
"Registration of new subscribers is ongoing on purchasing of new lines and we are yet to get information from Broadacom."
Last year Potraz sent an alarm to subscribers from the three mobile phone service providers when it set a deadline for registration of Sim cards, failure of which clients would be disconnected.
The deadline was extended a number of times until the regulatory authority suspended the idea indefinitely when the three mobile networks, Econet, NetOne and Telecel, started registering clients when buying lines.
Mobile network operators have also increased the number of services ranging from Internet, data bundles, emergency credits, and other promotions to provide best value to clients.
Econet Wireless public relations officer Mr Rangarirai Mberi said they had 6,4 million subscribers.
This means the mobile operator commands about 70 percent of the total subscriber base.
Telecel Marketing representative, Mr Obert Mandimika said Telecel subscribers had increased by 23 percent with about 1 877 585 now connected to the service provider.
"Our base as at end of April was 1 877 585 active subscribers marking a more than 23 percent growth since the beginning of this year. We have introduced a number of services like caller tunes. We are working on a number of initiatives to avail even more value to our subscribers and at the same time we are working on capacitating our network through new geographic expansion for both 2G and 3G and the results should start showing around the end of next month countrywide," said Mr Mandimika. NetOne's subscriber base stands at 1,5 million.
Source - TC
