ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe Limited established 103 base stations during the third quarter to November 30, 2025, targeting developing urban areas and rural communities, as the telecoms group plans new product offerings.
In a statement that accompanied the group’s trading update for the third quarter ended November 30, 2025, the group’s company secretary, Ms Tatenda Ngowe, said the objective is to significantly improve coverage in areas historically challenged by poor connectivity and to meet the rising demand from urbanisation.
She said the group continued to demonstrate resilience and adaptability in a changing digital landscape, remained committed to its strategic vision of becoming a leading digital services provider, investing in robust network infrastructure and intelligent, innovative technologies to meet the dynamic needs of customers.
“During the quarter, we introduced an additional 103 base stations and sites and of these, 27 are lightweight and cost-effective base stations across the country targeting developing urban areas and rural communities,” said Ms Ngowe.
“These installations form the backbone for future innovations, enabling the business to introduce new product offerings and activate a range of internet of things (IoT) use cases to unlock new markets.
“The group completed the core network expansion for voice and data services, which will improve both data and voice service quality.”
To complement this progress, Ms Ngowe said the company was in the final phase of commissioning a new billing and subscription platform to automate critical business processes and enable more personalised, customer-centric digital experiences, marking a significant shift from the traditional models.
She also said artificial intelligence (AI) continued to be a key enabler to support and accelerate digital transformation.
“The business is strategically driving towards an autonomous network with capabilities that are designed to prevent and mitigate disruptions by using AI and machine learning,” said Ms Ngowe.
“These capabilities enable the network to self-configure, self-optimise, self-heal, and self-learn, which all enhance network security and customer experience.
“As the adoption of digital solutions accelerates, the group remains committed to implementing AI-powered solutions to analyse customer usage trends and to design and deliver highly personalised solutions and services in real time.”
Meanwhile, Ms Ngowe said ongoing investments in the network infrastructure, tailored customer initiatives and efforts to expand both the mobile financial services footprint and mobile money wallet funding have been key in driving revenue growth across all major business segments.
She said the mobile network operations (MNO) business remained focused on strengthening customer experience through scaled digital self-service and improved first-contact resolution.
“Anchored by continued network infrastructure investment, data usage remained the primary growth driver, registering an increase of more than 50 percent compared to the same period last year,” she added.
“Voice usage firmed by 35 percent over the comparative prior period. The continued growth in volumes underscores the need for commensurate network infrastructure capacitation and optimisation.
“This is a key enabler to improve customer experience and drive digital services usage to regional peer averages, a key revenue driver and value creator.”
Currently, Econet will unbundle its infrastructure assets into a new entity, Econet Infrastructure Company (Econet InfraCo) and subsequently delist from the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange while listing the InfraCo on the US dollar-denominated Victoria Falls Stock Exchange.
The telecommunications group said the carve-out highlighted its strategic focus on optimising shareholder returns while positioning the business for sustained growth in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.-herald
