SmartBiz and Data Expansion Take Centre Stage in Econet’s Half-Year Results

The largest mobile network operator (MNO) in the country, Econet, recently released its 2025 half-year financial results. 

We will continue to make it a point to note that Econet is the only one of the three MNOs that releases such information. The other two hide behind government ownership to escape this transparency. 

Anyway, let’s start with Econet’s Chairman’s statement to get a feel of what they feel the 6 months ending August 2024 were like. 

Major Achievements

Network Expansion:

Econet expanded its 5G network with 32 new base stations in Harare and plans for 120 more sites. I happen to have benefited from this in my neighbourhood. 

SmartBiz:

They launched SmartBiz, offering affordable unlimited internet packages for the first time.

The aforementioned 5G expansion is why my SmartBiz experience has been stellar. I know some have had bad experiences with SmartBiz, I guess, they have to wait for the network upgrade to hit their neighbourhoods. 

You’ll see below that there was significant increase in data usage in the six months but it’s not clear how much SmartBiz had to do with that. We didn’t get SmartBiz subscriber numbers but I don’t imagine the subscriber base was huge in August and earlier. Actually, we have no idea what they are like today.

Dealing with ZESA’s shortcomings:

Econet invested in an upgrade of their alternative power for data centers to ensure uninterrupted services. With ZESA doing its thing, this is an important investment. 

Financial Performance

Revenue Growth:

Revenue for the period was ZWG 5 billion (between US$197m and $137m i.e. using official exchange rates of either 14:1 or 25:1), mainly driven by a 56% growth in data usage and 36% growth in voice usage.

Data services now account for 47% of revenue, up from 38% last year.

Profitability:

Econet made a profit of ZWG 347 million (between $14-25 million), slightly up from ZWG 272 million in the same period last year.

Investments:

The company spent 26% of its revenue on modernizing its network, focusing on data services. Mashonaland East can attest to the LTE expansion. 

Mobile Money and Insurance:

Mobile money services grew by 26% in revenue, driven by more users and international remittances.

Challenges

The primary difficulties are still tied to currency issues.

Reporting Issues – Econet’s financial reporting was affected by Zimbabwe’s currency changes, making it difficult to compare these results to previous ones.

Operational Costs – The company is spending a lot on infrastructure upgrades that require foreign currency and paying dearly for it. The foreign currency problem hasn’t been fixed, no matter what you might have heard.