Globally, as internet access increases, voice calling falls. It’s not that people stop communicating; it’s that they use cheaper and superior internet-based calling. Zimbabwe will not be the exception, although voice has proved to have staying power in the country.
Voice Traffic Declines in Q3 2024
However, in the third quarter of 2024 (July to September), voice took a stumble. Mobile voice traffic fell by 7.46%. The telecoms regulator, POTRAZ, attributes this to internet-based calling.
Mobile Internet Traffic Surges
It will not surprise you, then, to find out that mobile internet traffic increased by a whopping 19.22%, from 65.75 to 78.38 petabytes (PBs).
Econet was mostly responsible for this increase:
The total number of active internet subscriptions was 12,042,864 in the quarter. That means a share of under 6.5GB per person in three months—or about 2.2GB per month—which is a bit higher than you would expect.
A few heavy users are raising the averages. We obviously still have many people only utilizing the weekly $1 WhatsApp bundle, which is capped at 120MB. That means they use about 1.4GB (120 * 4 * 3) in a quarter, which is much lower than the total average of 6.5GB per mobile internet subscription.
The Role of WhatsApp and Econet’s Limitations
What I find interesting is that the biggest mobile operator, Econet, handicaps its WhatsApp bundles so that one cannot make calls with them. So, users of these bundles are not able to resort to internet-based calling.
Plain old texting and voice notes have become popular too, leaving voice calls for only the most urgent situations. That also explains the drop in voice calls.
Affordability Remains a Barrier
We would love to see more people enjoy an uncapped, unrestricted internet experience. For now, although a 19.22% increase in usage is commendable, it would be much higher if the affordability problem was solved. The demand is there; prices just need to match incomes.
The Impact of “Unlimited” Data Packages
That said, I think we will see an even bigger jump in data usage in Q4 2024 because, for the first time ever, we saw unlimited mobile data packages hit the market and gain popularity.
Econet’s SmartBiz package kept finding its stride in Q4, and Smart4You bundles started popping up. These packages, while not technically truly unlimited, are a far cry from the Private WiFi bundles we had before.
As a result, only Econet saw its market share increase in the quarter.
Starlink’s Influence on the Market
Of course, we have Starlink to thank for this sudden innovation by the mobile operators. I don’t know why I said ‘operators’ in plural—we are still waiting for Econet’s competitors to launch their own competing products.
Speaking of Starlink, it will be interesting to see what kind of impact it will have on all this. The unfortunate part for the mobile operators is that their heaviest users are the ones who can afford the satellite internet solution.
That means their mobile data usage might drop as they utilize their WiFi more. They better pray that the work-from-home bug doesn’t hit because when one is mostly camped out at home, they don’t tend to use mobile data much if there is a WiFi connection available.
Anyway, Starlink was only licensed at the end of the quarter and will start submitting its quarterly returns in Q4 2024. We shall see what’s what then.
Conclusion
The decline in voice calling in Zimbabwe is following a global trend, with internet-based communication becoming the norm. The increase in mobile internet usage will obviously be helped by the introduction of so-called “unlimited” data packages. However, affordability remains a key challenge, preventing even greater adoption.
Starlink’s entry into the market has already pushed mobile operators to rethink their offerings, but its long-term impact remains to be seen.
As internet access continues to expand, traditional voice calling may become even less relevant, only used for business and urgent calls. The next few quarters will provide more clarity on how deeply all this changes will change this sector. I think we are headed in the right direction.
oh ok
Who the hell is using a Telecel line ??? Seriously in all the groups you frequent, how many Telecel phone numbers do you see ? These stats are sus !!!!