Mobile internet usage remained unconquerable in Q2 2021

The charge of mobile internet usage and traffic continued its upward in Q2 2021 according to the latest Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe’s (POTRAZ) sector performance report.

Mobile internet traffic increased by 7.2% in Q2, 2021 from the 21,865 TB recorded in the first quarter. Of the total mobile internet and data traffic, 1,521,111 MB were consumed by inbound roaming subscribers while 192,403 was consumed by outbound roaming subscribers.

Unsurprisingly in-bundle data traffic dominated accounting for 97.3% of total mobile internet usage. This was a 0.1% increase from the figure that was recorded in Q1 2021.

MNO market share of the mobile data traffic

Econet Wireless Zimbabwe asserted its dominance in the data space in Q2, 2021. The country’s biggest mobile network operator ate up 0.6% of the mobile data market share from the figures reported by POTRAZ.

NetOne despite hitting 4 million subscribers, hasn’t yet quite been able to convert the new numbers for gains in data. At this point, it would be fair to assume that the new subscribers might be people who are looking for a second mobile money wallet.

Last year the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe put out a directive that mandated that no one can have more than one mobile money wallet on a single carrier. This meant that if you wanted a backup or second wallet, you would need to open a Telecash or OneMoney wallet.

Some may ask why is data an important metric. Well, the answer to that is very simple in my opinion. Mobile internet is where it’s at, more and more services are making their way online and on popular messaging service WhatsApp.

This means that gaining subscribers means little if you aren’t making some strides in the hottest service right now. Furthermore, even though we have seen price hikes, Zimbabweans continue to push data figures higher and higher even though most of it is for in-bundle browsing.

It will be interesting to see what the folks at NetOne do to make up ground. The 10% airtime discount that they have for buying airtime through OneMoney might need to be extended to data bundles as well…