By LEADING Pan African telecommunications company Liquid Telecom dominated the second quarter of 2017 having 47 percent of the Internet Access Provider Revenue market share. The company had 81, 4 percent of the equipped international internet bandwidth market share compared to the previous period of 78, 9 percent.
The Econet Wireless subsidiary provides internet to its Internet Service Provider ZOL which has over 300 hotspots dotted across the country.
Liquid boasts of having laid more than 10 600 KM in Zimbabwe as of last year.
Through organic growth and acquisition, Liquid Telecom has built over 50,000km of fibre connecting 9 countries in the region, and currently serves over 113,000 enterprise, carrier and retail customers. In July this year,Liquid successfully arranged its US$700 million bond and term loan financing package where they raised $550 million in the international debt capital markets in its debut bond, in addition to a $150 million term loan.
The successful pricing of the bond, which launched on June 21, is a significant milestone for both the group and the wider African telecoms sector, which remains one of the least penetrated fixed and mobile internet connectivity markets in the world.
Hot on the heels of Liquid was the state controlled TelOne which had 24, 6 percent followed by ZESA owned Powertel with 15, 8 percent and Dandemutande having 6, 8, Africom 3, 5, Telecontract 1, 5 percent, Aquiva 0, 1 percent and Aptics 0 percent.
“Liquid had the highest market share of IAP revenues, whereas Aptics had the least market share,” said Potraz.
Table 14: IAP revenues market share
| Market Share of Revenues
2nd Quarter 2017 |
|
| Liquid | 47.7% |
| TelOne | 24.6% |
| Powertel | 15.8% |
| Dandemutande | 6.8% |
| Africom | 3.5% |
| Telecontract | 1.5% |
| Aquiva | 0.1% |
| Aptics | 0.0% |
| Total | 100% |
TThe total incoming equipped international internet bandwidth capacity increased by 29.3% to reach 98,000Mbps from 76,060Mbps recorded in the previous quarter.
“A comparison with the 1st quarter`s figures shows that Liquid gained 2.5% market share of equipped capacity whereas TelOne, Powertel, Dandemutande and Africom lost 1.2%, 0.5%,0.4% and 0.3%, respectively,” said Potraz.
Liquid contributed 88,000 Mbps in that regard, an increase by 33% from the 60,000 Mbps it recorded in the 1st quarter.
The increase is attributable to the commissioning of more STM1s by Liquid and TelOne.
Table 13: IAP Revenues per operator
| 1st Quarter 2017 | 2nd Quarter 2017 | % Growth | |
| Revenues | $45,553,463 | $40,312,820 | -11.5% |
| Investment | $5,889,182 | $9,816,562 | 66.7% |
While Liquid and Telone were heading in the right direction, things aren’t working well for Africom which was recently disconnected by Mozambican Mobitel over an outstanding debt, having recorded bad results in the 2nd quarter characterised by declining revenues and lost market share, recording only a 3.5% market share on revenues.
Revenue in the sector dropped by 11.5% from $45.6million recorded in the first quarter to record $40.3 million in the 2nd quarter, despite a 66.7% increase in investments from $5,889,182 to $9,816,562. The decline in revenue is the only negative thing shown in the latest POTRAZ report.
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