ECONET Wireless Zimbabwe maintained its leadership in customer subscriptions, data traffic and voice calls in the third quarter of 2025, according to the latest sector performance report by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz).
Econet’s active subscriber base grew by 2.39% to 12 064 749, up from 11 782 975 in the previous quarter, while NetOne’s subscribers rose by 1.90% to 4 062 894. Telecel recorded a 4.54% decline in active subscribers to 305 042.
Total active mobile subscriptions in the sector increased by 2.13%to 16 432 685, lifting mobile penetration from 102.64%to 104.83%.
Econet maintained its leadership in voice traffic, recording 86.69% share of voice traffic in the quarter, followed by NetOne at 13.29% and Telecel at 0.02%.
Overall voice traffic rose by a strong 10.3% to 4.65 billion minutes, driven mainly by growth in on-net and interconnect traffic, which increased by 8.63% and 24.65% respectively.
Internet and mobile data traffic also recorded robust growth, surging by 10.72 percent from 130.14 petabytes to 144.09 petabytes. Econet increased its data market share to 82.29 percent, while NetOne eased to 17.55%. Telecel remained unchanged at 0.16%.
“During the quarter under review, all mobile operators recorded Internet and data traffic growth of more than 10%. The robust figures indicate a strong and potentially accelerating shift towards more data-intensive service consumption,” the report noted.
“Zimbabwe continues to experience significant Internet and data traffic growth in line with global trends. This has been driven by increased use of data-intensive applications, supported by the rollout of high-speed network infrastructure, as reflected in a 26.59 % increase in 5G base station deployments during the quarter, among other factors,” the report said.
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Mobile network operators also recorded solid financial performance, with sector revenue growing by 8.35%from ZWG 6.71 billion to ZWG 7.27 billion in the third quarter of 2025.
However, aggregate operating costs rose sharply by 19.71 %, increasing from ZIG 3.48 billion in the second quarter to ZIG 4.16 billion.
During the same period, total capital expenditure declined significantly by 67%, reversing a 261% increase recorded in the previous quarter. Capital investment stood at ZiG 508.92 million, down from ZiG 1.53 billion spent in the second quarter.
