Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, the country’s largest mobile network operator, says it welcomes the third quarter (Q3) telecom sector report published by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) on Thursday 7 December 2017.
The report, published on a quarterly basis by the industry regulator, shows Econet extending its mobile market leadership and further increasing its share of revenue and customers in the period covering July to September 2017.
The Potraz report shows that the ZSE listed company achieved a revenue market share of 82% and increased its customer market share to 52% in the Q3.
It says mobile telecom industry revenues grew by 21% from $185,6 million in the second quarter, to $224.8 in Q3, primarily driven by Econet’s growth, which contributed $38,8 million of the incremental $39 million mobile industry revenue growth in the third quarter. In the same quarter, NetOne’s revenue grew by $1 million, while Telecel’s revenue fell by $0,87 million.
Econet’s revenue growth of $38,8 million in Q3 was a 27% growth from the second quarter (April to June 2017) while NetOne’s revenue growth of $ 1million was a 5% growth from the previous quarter. Telecel’s $0,87 revenue decline translated to a 6% decline on its Q2 revenues.
Econet’s revenue market share grew by 3.7% to 81.6% from 77,9% in Q2 at the expense of NetOne, whose revenue market share declined by 1,9% to close at 12,1%, and Telecel which saw it share of revenue slump by 1.8 % to close at 6.3%.
Commenting on the report, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s Chief Operating Officer Fayaz King said he was gratified by the performance, paying tribute to the Econet group’s innovation-driven strategy.
“Econet’s group strategy, right from the top, puts a lot of stock on innovation given the industry we operate in and one can see the success of that strategy in the sector report”, said King.
Econet customer market share grew to 51.7% in the third quarter, gaining 1.5% from 50,2 in Q2. But in Q3, both NetOne and Telecel lost customer market share, with NetOne shedding 0.4% and Telecel dropping 1.1% share of mobile customers.
Among the three major networks, Econet’s customer activation drive resulted in the net addition of 460,000 customers in Q3, compared to NetOne’s 23,000 net additions, and Telecel 5,000 net customer additions.
King thanked Econet’s customers for choosing Econet’s products and services.
“We are most grateful to our customers for their continued support and promise them more value for their money, and more relevant and transformational innovation going forward”, he said.
The quarterly report showed that total Mobile Data traffic recorded a quarter-on-quarter growth of 39.1% (1.100 TB), driven by a 56% (643.000 GB) growth in contribution from Econet Wireless. Econet’s data traffic grew by 29% (or 689TB) quarter-on-quarter, from 2,300 in Q2, to 3,000 in Q3 to maintain a data traffic market share of more 70%.
NetOne’s data traffic grew by 401TB, on the back of what Potraz attributed to discounted promotional offerings. Telecel, which recently launched a promotional night data bundle, also posted a quarter-on-quarter data growth of 75TB – from 237TB in Q2 to 312TB in Q3 2017.
King paid tribute to Econet’s staff for their dedication and exceptional work ethic.
“At the end of the day, even if your equipment is the same, and you operate in the same market environment, what makes the difference is the execution, and that is down to your people” he said.
“We are able to produce and sustain these kinds of results because of the exceptional work ethic of our people, the talented and dedicated staff that have consistently delivered when it mattered most” he said. #END.