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By Ross Moyo
Zimbabweans are now uploading as much data as they are downloading, and also using local hosting services seeing a massive 30% of incoming data.Zimbabwe’s used international incoming internet bandwidth capacity rose 10.88% to 604,440 Mbps in Q4 2025, POTRAZ data shows, reflecting the country’s accelerating consumption of data-intensive content.
Outgoing bandwidth also increased 4.85% to 212,298 Mbps, indicating more symmetric traffic patterns as local hosting and cloud services grow.
Total equipped international bandwidth capacity expanded 6.46% to 1,688,770 Mbps during the quarter.
African Fibre Networks led growth with a 76.92% increase to 230,000 Mbps, lifting its market share 5.42 points to 13.62%.
Liquid Intelligent Technologies maintained the largest share at 68.10% with 1,150,000 Mbps, unchanged from Q3.
TelOne held 11.55% at 195,000 Mbps, while Powertel increased 2.99% to 69,000 Mbps for a 4.08% share.
The surge in bandwidth usage was driven by rising traffic from video platforms, social media, and satellite services.
Starlink Zimbabwe’s traffic grew 42.76% to 168.21 PB, taking 35.05% of the fixed internet market and straining international gateways.
YouTube accounted for 9.53% of mobile data traffic, while the “Other” category, which includes TikTok, Instagram, and Netflix, made up 61.48%.
WhatsApp remained the single largest app at 20.69% of mobile data consumption.
Internet penetration in Zimbabwe reached 84.55% with 13.25 million active subscriptions, further fueling demand for international capacity.
The deployment of 47 new 5G and 167 LTE sites in Q4 added to backhaul requirements, pushing operators to secure more bandwidth.
POTRAZ said the bandwidth growth is critical for supporting digital services, e-commerce, and enterprise connectivity.
With the National AI Strategy 2026–2030 set to drive adoption of AI and cloud applications, operators are expected to continue investing in submarine cable and satellite integration to meet future demand.
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