THE Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) says the country’s internet penetration rate increased by 2,5 percent to reach 65,3 percent in 2022 from 62,8 percent in 2021.
This is the highest internet penetration rate recorded in the last 14 years. The second highest rate was 62,9 percent in 2018.
In its latest report, the regulator said active users had reached 9,91 million.
After a decline to 60,6 percent in 2019, the internet penetration rate has been steadily rising due to national lockdowns introduced to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
With more people working from home, the use of digital video conferencing channels and e-learning activity increased.
Likewise, social media activity has also been rising, the regulator said.
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The internet penetration rate stood at 60,9 percent in 2020 and then rose to 62,8 percent.
This increase, however, was not sufficient to offset the overall decline in real revenues caused by the lockdown as well as the declining economic fundamentals.
The lowest internet penetration rate was recorded in 2009 at 5,1 percent. This can be attributed to the fact that the use of the internet was not yet popular among the majority of people.
But the rate improved as the years went by, thanks to initiatives by the industry regulator to make sure that the internet reached remote areas.
“The internet penetration rate is expected to continue growing as access, demand and the scope of digital services improves,” stated Potraz in its annual sector performance report for 2022.
The report also shows an increase in active internet and subscriptions in the country, from 9,52 million at the end of 2021 to 9,91 million at the end of 2022. This reflects a 4,1 percent rise in active Internet and data subscriptions.
Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) technology recorded the biggest jump in the active internet subscriptions list, up 108 percent to 5 518 in 2022 from 2 653 in 2021.
Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) came in second with 7 821 active internet subscriptions, representing an increase of 26,5 percent from the prior period.
Active Fibre Subscriptions followed, appreciating by 9,6 percent to 67 961 in 2022 from 62 004 in 2021.
Leased Lines’ active internet subscriptions went up by 9 percent to 2 667 in 2022 from 2 446 in the comparative period.
Third Generation Technology (3G), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology saw the number of active internet subscriptions rise by 4,2 percent to 9,72 million from 9,33 in 2021.
However, Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology suffered the most in terms of active internet subscriptions, falling by 44,2 percent from 10 344 in 2021 to 5 767 in 2022.
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) active internet subscriptions were down 6,1 percent from 111 701 in 2021 to 104 888 in 2022.
“DSL and CDMA were the only two categories to record a decline in active subscriptions, for a consecutive year,” reads the report.
“DSL faces competition from Fibre whilst CDMA has been declining over the years as it is gradually being replaced by other technologies.”
This comes at a time when the local economy is in such terrible shape that it is not unexpected that these negative impacts are now having a significant negative impact on the telecom industry.
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