Zimbabwe internet operational costs rises sharply

By Staff reporter | 04 Oct 2019 at 21:21hrs
Potraz
Operational costs for Internet Access Providers (IAPs) in Zimbabwe went up to $111 million in the first four months of 2019 compared to $60million recorded in the previous quarter, latest Potraz statistics indicate.

The pressure on costs has been attributed to inflation and also the transition to a mono-currency economy which the country now uses.

The total revenue that was recorded in the first quarter by IAPs was $74, 365, 764 and during the second quarter $137, 687, 066 was recorded. According to Potraz the rise of revenues was a result of the removal of the multi-currency regime and restriction of all domestic transactions to the local currency

" The growth of revenues is attributable to the review of tariffs as well as the transition to a mono-currency economy, foreign earned revenues are now subjected to conversion at the official exchange rate," said Potraz.

Below is a diagram of revenues vis-a-vis operational costs of IAPs:



From the above diagram, revenues grew by 85.1%, operating costs also grew significantly by 84.6%. A huge proportion of IAP operating costs consists of bandwidth costs, which are paid in foreign currency.

In the market share of IAP RevenueLiquid Telecom is the only one that recorded growth, other providers such as TelOne, Powertel, Dandemutande, Africom, Telecontract recorded a decline, as shown below:

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