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By Ross Moyo
TelOne Private Limited, backed by ZIDA is is seeking a US$263.2 million wireless broadband network with 1,600 base stations.The project was announced in ZIDA’s prospectus just released released across under-served regions in Midlands, Manicaland, Masvingo, and Matabeleland South. This is meant to end the rural digital divide and enable access to e-learning, e-health, and digital government services using a Build, Lease, Maintain, and Transfer Public Private Partnership to connect 500,000 rural and peri-urban users.
For the Mthombeni family in Village 1B, Umguza District, every farming season has meant poor rainfall updates and missed market prices because the phone signal dies at the gate. That could change under TelOne’s new plan.
The US$263.2 million Wireless Broadband Deployment project is the single biggest piece of Zimbabwe’s US$340.1 million broadband package. Its target is stark: 500,000 people in Southern and Eastern Zimbabwe who currently live with patchy 2G, slow 3G, or no signal at all.
ZIDA says the 1,600 new base stations will address “the digital divide and foster digital inclusion.” In practice, that means a clinic in Chiredzi can upload patient records in real time. A Form 4 student in Chipinge can join an online lesson without walking 10km to find signal. A cotton farmer in Gokwe can check inputs prices before selling.
The project is forecast to generate US$2.9 billion in revenue with a 60% return on investment and a five-year payback. It forms part of the National Development Strategy 2 and feeds directly into Vision 2030’s goal of an upper middle-income economy.
It also powers the National AI Strategy 2026–2030. AI-driven weather alerts, crop disease detection, and remote diagnostics are useless if the village has no bandwidth. This rollout lays that last-mile foundation.
Implementation will follow a BLMT PPP model, designed to attract private capital while keeping the network a national asset. If ZIDA’s timelines hold, the first towers could be live within 24 months, turning today’s blackout zones into tomorrow’s connected communities.
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