Cellular operators ring up $119bn revenue
CELLULAR services operators revenue for the fourth quarter to December 31, 2022 jumped 50 percent to $119 billion from $79 billion in the prior quarter, according to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz).
This comes as mobile data and internet usage also rose during the period.
However, like any other sector in the economy, mobile operators operated in a challenging business environment characterised by inflationary pressures, foreign currency shortages, currency exchange volatility and the adverse impacts of the global inflation fuelled by the war in Ukraine.
Added to this, businesses have also been battling erratic power supply, disrupting operations across most economic sectors and driving increases in energy costs.
Resultantly, telecoms operating costs also jumped by 68,3 percent, a margin that surpasses growth in aggregate revenue by 18,1 percent.
Potraz said this was an indication that costs continued to close in on operator revenues, diminishing profits. Capital expenditure grew significantly; the bulk of the capital expenditure was in national switching.
“Mobile network operating costs continued on an uptrend, as staff costs, bandwidth costs and depreciation continued to be the main cost drivers for mobile operators.
“The increased load shedding in the quarter under review also increased power costs.
“Operators relied on fuel for generators to power base stations, even for those supported by solar, as the length of load-shedding exceeded that which could be sufficiently sustained exclusively by solar power,” said Potraz in its latest sector performance report.
During the period under review, mobile internet and data traffic totaled 33,576.4 terabytes, representing a 3,4 percent growth from 32,473,1 terabytes consumed in the third quarter of the year.
“Overall internet and data traffic has been consistently growing over the course of the year, in spite of depressed demand across other markets.
Internet and data has also been relatively price inelastic; illustrating its growing importance as a basic commodity,” said Potraz.
The regulator anticipates the trend to continue in the near future as the country continues to embrace digitalisation, which drives data and internet usage.
According to the report, the total number of active mobile subscriptions declined by 1,8 percent, to 14 300 790, down from 14 562 242 recorded in the third quarter of 2022.
Hence, the mobile penetration rate declined by 1,7 percent, to reach 94,2 percent from 95,9 percent recorded in the previous quarter.
Of the three mobile operators, Econet was the only operator to record growth in active subscriptions in the quarter under review.
Telecel and NetOne`s active subscriptions declined by 16,9 percent and 9,6 percent respectively, which outweighed the 2,4 percent subscriber
growth recorded by Econet.
Mobile voice traffic totalled 3 billion minutes in the fourth quarter of 2022. This represents a 2,5 percent decline, from 3,08 billion minutes recorded
in the third quarter of 2022.-herald
