By 
According to the latest abridged sector report from the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), Zimbabwe’s mobile telecommunications sector closed the fourth quarter of 2025 with a mixed financial performance, as aggregate revenue for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) rose 6.33% to reach ZWG 7.74 billion.
However, the revenue gains were overshadowed by a sharper increase in operating costs, which surged 11.52% from ZWG 4.16 billion in the third quarter to ZWG 4.64 billion in the three months ending December 2025. The widening gap between top-line growth and expense management pushed the industry’s cost-to-income ratio from 57.22% to 59.95%, marking a deterioration in operational efficiency of 2.73 percentage points.
The POTRAZ report noted that the rapid rise in operating costs outpaced revenue growth, directly contributing to the sector’s worsening cost-to-income performance. Despite the pressure, MNOs significantly ramped up capital expenditure, which more than doubled increasing by 112% from ZWG 508.92 million to ZWG 1.08 billion over the same period.
On a per-user basis, Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) improved by 4.13%, rising from ZWG 442.70 to ZWG 460.99 per quarter. This suggests that while operators are facing higher costs, they have managed to extract greater value from each active subscriber.
The revenue mix continues to shift decisively toward data services. Mobile internet and data services remained the single largest contributor to MNO revenue, accounting for 50.75% of total income in Q4 2025. This underscores a sustained migration away from traditional voice and SMS offerings.
Total mobile internet and data traffic surged 11.27% to 160.33 Petabytes, driven by intensive use of applications such as WhatsApp, YouTube, and other high-definition streaming platforms. Meanwhile, active mobile subscriptions increased 2.11% to 16.78 million, pushing mobile penetration to 107.04%.
The data-centric transformation was further reflected in infrastructure investments, with operators deploying 47 additional 5G base stations during the quarter, bringing the national total to 366. LTE base stations also grew by 167 units.
Comments