By 
By Ross Moyo
Converged state-owned company TelOne has reportedly lost massive amounts of copper cable infrastructure via 336 reported cases in FY2025, forcing the company to spend $341,031 to restore the network as thieves continue to target the lucrative metal. The losses come at a time when TelOne is trying to accelerate broadband and Fixed Wireless Access rollout under CEO Eng. Lawrence Nkala.
The scale of the damage is significant. According to AGM highlights released today 26 June 2026 at the TelOneCentre in Harare, the 336 vandalism incidents affected over 43,000 clients across the country. Beyond the $341,030 restoration cost, TelOne also lost $370,524 in revenue from downtime. Combined, that is a $711,554 hit to the business and a 1.3% erosion of EBITDA.
CEO Eng. Lawrence Nkala, who took the helm in July 2023 with over two decades of technical and operational experience, says copper has become unsustainable. “Copper theft driven by rising copper prices and economic pressure continues to be a major operational vulnerability,” Nkala told the AGM. “Each incident takes networks offline for days and drains capital that should go into growth.”
The next agenda for management is a decisive shift away from copper. TelOne’s report states “the need for accelerated migration to fibre and wireless technologies” to reduce exposure. Fibre is less attractive to scrap dealers and harder to vandalize, while Fixed Wireless Access reduces kilometers of trenching and exposed cable. For Nkala, this is an engineering and risk management decision.
Investment is already moving in that direction. TelOne deployed US$7.6 million in FY2025, with a significant portion directed to FWA and Fibre expansion. Capex intensity was 8% for the year. That spend aligns with demand: data usage rose 60% and broadband now contributes 81% of revenue, up from 79% in 2024.
The product strategy is following the infrastructure shift. As part of modernization, TelOne launched TelOne Connect Voice, a digital voice service built on IP platforms. Voice revenue is now only 10% of total revenue, down from 11%, showing the company is moving away from legacy circuit-switched voice toward data-led services that run on fibre and wireless backhaul.
Satellite partnerships are filling coverage gaps while fibre is being rolled out. Revenue from the Starlink low-earth-orbit partnership grew to US$3.7 million in 2025 from US$215,000 in 2024. This gives TelOne reach in remote areas where trenching copper or fibre is not yet viable, and it supports the hybrid access model Nkala is pursuing.
Funding remains the constraint on speed. The AGM noted a ZWG10.95 billion legacy loan book, about US$421.59 million, which “limits TelOne’s ability to secure new funding.” Government receivables also ballooned 163% to ZWG857.8 million. Until debt is warehoused and Govt settles, the pace of copper retirement will be limited by available cash.
For customers, the outcome is binary in 2026. If TelOne can fund the migration faster than thieves cut copper, outages will fall and service quality will rise. If not, the $350,000+ restoration bill will keep recurring and EBITDA will keep leaking. Nkala’s 2026-2030 plan says the choice is clear: retire copper, scale fibre and FWA, and protect the network.
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