AT a time when telecommunication companies in Zimbabwe have been crying foul that over the top services have been chewing into their revenues, the narrative changes with the industry recording a 6, 3 percent leap of voice traffic in the second quarter of this year.
According to the latest Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) second quarter report, the sector had a historic leap of traffic like no other in a long time.
By Kudakwashe Pembere
“Total voice traffic increased by 6.3 % to record 1,055,844,283 minutes from 993,582,256 minutes recorded in the previous quarter,” said the regulator.
NetOne’s promotional packages offering generous on-net minutes spiked the national voice traffic, “Overall, voice revenue did not increase despite the increase in national voice traffic, because the bulk of traffic was promotional Net-on-Net voice,” said Potraz.
Coincidentally, mobile operators also realized a marginal rise in revenue of 3.2 percent.
“Revenues by mobile operators increased by 3.2% to record $185.6 million from $179.8 million recorded in the previous quarter,” noted Potraz.
Mobile operators have been the most hit cartel by foreign OTTS like WhatsApp, Viber, Messenger, Imo to mention but a few which gave users access to call over their platforms.
But Potraz said, “The contribution of voice declined considerably to 53.5% from 58.9% recorded in the previous quarter.”
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