By 
By Ross Moyo
More and more Zimbabweans are ditching traditional calls in favor of data, driven by the rise of VoIP applications like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. In areas with good network coverage, calling has become an expensive and increasingly unnecessary habit.
For years, the ringtone meant money leaving your pocket.
Now for more and more Zimbabweans, it means nothing at all.
In Harare’s Mbare, 24-year-old Tatenda no longer buys $5 airtime bundles. “Last time I made a normal call was maybe in December,” she says. “Everything is WhatsApp now. Voice notes, video calls, group calls. It’s free once you have data.”
In Bulawayo, kombi driver Blessing agrees. “Why would I call you for 20 minutes and burn $3, when I can video call you for free? My customers even WhatsApp me for bookings now.”
Tatenda and Blessing’s story is now the national story.
THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE
According to the POTRAZ Q1 2026 Sector Report, traditional mobile voice calls have fallen 8.38% in just 3 months. Total voice traffic dropped to 4.64 billion minutes from 5.07 billion in Q4 2025.
POTRAZ attributes the fall to two things: the end of festive-season calling, and a structural shift toward Over-the-Top services that offer free voice and video over data bundles.
The decline is across the board:
– Net-on-net calls — calls within the same network — fell 8.85%. This makes up 85% of all voice minutes.
– Cross-network calls to other mobiles dropped 5.57%.
– International outgoing calls crashed 14.47%.
The only bright spot was outbound roaming, which grew 30.18% as travel picked up over the holidays.
ECONET STILL KING, BUT THE CROWN IS HEAVIER
Despite the overall decline, Econet increased its share of voice traffic marginally to 88.34%. NetOne’s share dipped by the same margin. Telecel remains a distant third.
But market share no longer equals money.
“The consumer is voting with their wallet,” said a Harare-based telecoms analyst. “MNOs made billions from per-minute billing. Now they have to race to sell data, bundles, and content instead.”
That’s why your feed is full of “WhatsApp bundles”, “YouTube bundles”, and “Night data”. A $1 WhatsApp bundle can last a week. A $1 airtime voucher disappears in 10 minutes on Econet-to-NetOne.
Voice revenue is dying. Data is the new lifeline.
THE END OF AN ERA
For a generation, mobile phones meant airtime. Flashing. “Call me back.” Rationing the last 50c until month-end.
That era is ending.
POTRAZ says the trend will accelerate in Q2 as 5G and LTE expand and data gets cheaper. With 327 new towers and 13 new 5G sites deployed in Q1, operators are building for gigabytes, not minutes.
In the meantime, Zimbabweans have made their choice clear.
If it doesn’t come through WhatsApp, it probably won’t come at all.
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