NetOne @30: From Voice Calls To Green Calls — How Zimbabwe’s Second Largest Telco Is Turning First Fridays Into ESG Currency

By Ross Moyo

As Zimbabwe marks 30 years of NetOne, the state-owned telco is not celebrating with a cake-cutting in Harare. It is celebrating with a broom in Gokwe, Bulawayo and Masvingo.

In line with President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s call for a national clean-up every first Friday of the month — a programme gazetted in December 2018 — NetOne has deployed staff across three provinces for coordinated clean-up campaigns.

In Gokwe, it partnered Gokwe Town Council. In Bulawayo, the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and Council of Churches. In Masvingo, Don Bosco Primary School.

This is not CSR optics. This is ESG reporting.

NetOne, which turned 30 this year, has over 5 million active subscribers and holds 23% market share according to POTRAZ Q2 2026. It is wholly owned by government via Mutapa Investment Fund — which means its ESG performance is literally state performance.

For telcos, ESG is no longer optional. According to the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA), telcos globally generate 1.7% of global carbon emissions through energy-intensive base stations. In Zimbabwe, where NetOne operates over 1,200 base stations, many running on diesel generators during 12-hour ZESA load-shedding, environmental stewardship is operational cost management.

Speaking on the initiative, NetOne Spokesperson Ernest Magadzire said: “As NetOne celebrates 30 years of connecting Zimbabwe, we recognise that meaningful connectivity extends beyond telecommunications. It is also about connecting communities to a shared responsibility for the environment.”

Translation: Connectivity now includes community cleanliness.

The financial logic: EMA fines for illegal dumping range from US$500 to US$5,000. Local authorities spend over US$30 million annually on waste management nationally. When a corporate brings its own staff, gloves and trucks to clean public spaces, it reduces municipal burden and builds brand equity in communities where ARPU is US$2.80.

NetOne @30: Three decades of connecting Zimbabwe, now connecting Zimbabwe to cleaner spaces.