‘Zim dollar strengthening a boon for ICT’

THE Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) says it is anticipating the import prices of bandwidth, network equipment and software to go down following the local currency’s recent appreciation against the US dollar.
This comes as the economy has enjoyed currency stability over the past months after a protracted period of volatility. In its second quarter 2023 sector performance report, Potraz said inflation is also expected to ease further into the remainder of the year subject to policy consistency.
“The recent policy measures taken by the ministry of Finance during the last month of the second quarter have brought stability to the exchange rate and the inflation rate. Tight monetary and fiscal policy measures are expected to further stabilise the macroeconomic environment,” Potraz said.
The authority highlighted that the improvement in power supply owing to the commissioning of the Hwange unit 7 and 8 power stations is expected to enhance the overall quality of service whilst reducing costs related to backup power on base stations.
During the period under review, the sector operator revenues and operating costs surged by margins of over 100 percent across all sub-sectors of the postal and telecommunications industry.

Most of the operators incurred operating costs growth which was more than their revenues growth in the second quarter of 2023.
“This directly means that most operators made losses in the trading quarter. As in its nature, the telecoms industry requires huge capital outlays across networks, this cannot be achieved whilst the sector operators are running losses,” the authority said.
“Investments per operator have drastically decreased due to reduced revenue-to-cost ratios (RCR). This situation is attributed to an eroded tariff coupled with high inflation during the trading period.”
Meanwhile, mobile Internet and data traffic increased by 11,6 percent to record 42 058,3 terabytes in the second quarter of 2023, from 37 690,4 terabytes recorded in the first quarter of 2023.
Used Incoming International Internet Bandwidth Capacity increased by 8,3 percent to 318,742Mbps, from 294,201Mbps recorded in the previous quarter.
The total number of active Internet and data subscriptions declined by 0,2 percent to reach 9 902 500, while the Internet penetration rate also declined by 0,2 percent to reach 65,2 percent.
The total number of active mobile subscriptions declined by 0,7 percent during the quarter under review, to reach 13 955 937, hence a 0,7 percent decline in mobile penetration rate to reach 91,9 percent, from 92,6 percent recorded in the previous quarter.
Total active fixed telephone lines improved by 3,2 percent to reach 301 465 in the second quarter of 2023.
Resultantly, the fixed tele-density increased by 0,06 percent to a record 1,99 percent, from 1,93 percent recorded in the previous quarter.
In the outlook, the authority was expecting service uptake to rise in the forthcoming quarter leading to growth of the sector in the third quarter of the year.
Potraz said it was optimistic that positive sector growth could be realised in the coming quarter notwithstanding post-election expectations. newsdesk@fingaz.co