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For years, Zimbabwean mobile network operators have been bearing the brunt of the cost of infrastructure investment — a huge capital expenditure which demands millions of dollars just to set up a single base station.
For the past decades, mobile networks in Zimbabwe have been competing on existing infrastructure, forcing the players to build up in the same areas where business is brisk. After such a huge investment, it is only normal for the service providers to look out for areas where there is a clear return on investment.
By Toneo Toneo and Elleanor Chard
This move created a huge gap between urban and rural communities, with most border communities being marginalised, left to rely on neighbouring telephony and broadcast services, completely alienating them from the Zimbabwean ecosystem. The situation was only exacerbated by mountainous areas, which are not only difficult to reach, but very costly to implement GSM services. Even when available, they are very difficult to serve due to mountains blocking signal line of sight.
This poses a serious national challenge of completely neglecting such areas. Even where state-owned mobile operators like NetOne had been investing by mandate, the situation was still dire as it demanded more coverage, with a total of 300 more base stations still required across the country. Yet, in some areas, the communities only require 2G services for basic telephony.
To help ease the impasse, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) kicked off a program called the Tower Relocation Projects (TRPs), where it basically encouraged only one passive base station tower per area and connected the active infrastructure while sharing the tower, instead of allowing them to compete for the same area with three different towers, which was already underutilising investment.
At its core, the programme involves dismantling underutilised morons and GSM boosters — small, low-capacity transmitters once scattered across urban and semi-urban areas — and repurposing them into fully-fledged towers in underserved rural and border communities. These repurposed sites, upgraded with modern infrastructure, are then shared by operators, enabling affordable network expansion without duplicating costs.
A single tower can carry as much active infrastructure, broadcasting to an area of at least 30km across its surroundings with good line of sight, meaning all mobile networks can be connected on the same tower serving an urban population.
The same single tower will then carry all the active infrastructure like antennas for the Radio Access Network (RAN) that communicates with cellphones, and the microwave satellites that transmit between base stations while maintaining a single core server to speak with their various core networks.
This means the same tower will at least benefit from the same power supply, be it ZESA, solar panels, or even a generator, while the other two towers are dismantled and set up in various areas where there is no existing coverage. This ultimately means two more communities will benefit from the program.
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Through this initiative, POTRAZ has accelerated national connectivity through the rollout of 27 Tower Relocation Projects (TRPs) now on air, with 9 completed and awaiting activation, and a further 8 currently under construction.
The programme, funded under the Universal Service Fund (USF), is reshaping digital access for remote and underserved communities across the country.
The TRP model is a case study in efficient infrastructure utilisation. Instead of deploying new base stations from scratch in every location, the relocation programme maximises existing assets while leveraging USF resources to extend connectivity to areas where commercial returns are too low to attract private investment.
POTRAZ Director General Gift Machengete highlighted that “Initially it was not easy because people want to own, but eventually when our operators realised the benefits of our shared infrastructure, it became very easy and now it’s them that are relocating these towers while POTRAZ only pays for the relocations. It’s actually our operators relocating and sharing these towers.”
To ensure sustainability, POTRAZ has appointed mobile networks as managers at each site. Their role includes infrastructure maintenance, troubleshooting, monitoring systems, and upkeep of the access roads that link towers to remote villages, including physical security of the base station. This oversight is essential, as most TRPs are situated in mountainous or difficult terrain, where maintaining accessibility is as critical as the connectivity itself.
The benefits of the TRP programme are already evident. Service providers — Econet, NetOne, and Telecel — now share towers under a co-location model, significantly cutting operational expenses while improving service reliability for end-users. Communities that once relied on poor or patchy signals are now enjoying 2G, 3G, and even 4G services, enabling e-learning, e-commerce, mobile money, and digital communication.
Each relocated base station is a major investment, with costs estimated between USD 800,000 and 1 million per site. The figure covers the construction of the tower, installation of power systems (solar arrays, high-capacity batteries, and diesel generators), iron-bar reinforced structures for durability, relocation logistics, and the construction of durable access roads. Costs are higher in mountainous zones where transporting heavy materials and stabilising infrastructure is logistically complex.
Yet, the returns are not just financial but social. For rural learners, TRPs mean access to online education platforms; for smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs, they mean new market access; and for families, they mean a lifeline to communication once taken for granted in urban areas.
By implementing TRPs through USF funds, POTRAZ has redefined how regulators can close the connectivity gap. What began as a programme to relocate redundant moron boosters has now evolved into a nationwide strategy delivering high-impact digital infrastructure at scale.
As Zimbabwe accelerates its digital economy agenda, the TRP programme stands out as both cost-effective and transformative — proving that with the right mix of regulation, innovation, and resource reallocation, even the most remote communities can be connected to the digital grid.
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