Five years ago, Zimbabwe was a technology backwater where SIM cards were sold on the black market and the internet was a luxury. But now Zimbabwe finds itself among Africa's most advanced cellphone markets, and the good numbers keep stacking up.
According to the latest World Bank figures, access to cellphones in Zimbabwe has risen by 646% since 2008, by far the largest jump in the region. In 2008, only 13% of Zimbabweans had access to cellphones. Now, the penetration rate — the ratio of cellphones to the population — stands at 97%, the World Bank data shows.
South Africa, a more mature market, has grown by 48% over the same period. The closest rate of growth to Zimbabwe's over the period was 162% in Zambia, where access stands at 76%. At 13% in 2008, Zimbabwe was almost on a par with Malawi, with a rate of 11%. Now Zimbabwe is at 97% and Malawi has seen only stunted growth at 28%.
Stats from various sources also point to huge growth in the industry.
An Afrobarometer survey of 34 African countries named Zimbabwe as one of two countries, together with Burkina Faso, that was seeing the biggest growth in mobile access on the continent.
And, according to the Sub-Saharan Africa Mobile Observatory Report issued last year by the GSM Association, the global body for mobile operators, more people access the web via their cellphones in Zimbabwe than anywhere else in the world.
Mobile internet access
Mobile internet access accounts for more than half of all web traffic in Zimbabwe at 58.1%, far higher than the 10% global average, the report said.
In 2011, Opera, the world's leading mobile browser, named Zimbabwe as its fastest-growing market in Africa. Page views — a measure of the amount of time spent online — were the highest in Zimbabwe compared with elsewhere in Africa.
All these numbers would have seemed unlikely a decade ago, when operators would have to call in the police to beat away hordes of customers stampeding for SIM cards outside their stores.
Internet access was restricted to slow, dial-up connections in crowded internet cafés.
The state-owned fixed-line operator TelOne was unable to meet demand and it still has only a little more than 300 000 users.
But telecoms operators were among the biggest beneficiaries of the decision to ditch the Zimbabwe dollar for foreign currencies in 2009.
Costs in US dollars
Though costs had been largely in United States dollars, earnings were in Zimbabwe dollars.
This meant that companies could not expand their networks to meet demand for services, resulting in shortages that saw SIM cards being sold on the black market for more than $200 each.
The currency reforms inspired a boom in telecoms investment. To accelerate growth, the government removed duties on network equipment, cellphones, computers and other accessories. This allowed companies to invest more in expansion, and made cellphones cheaper.
"It was unthinkable," says telecoms analyst Fred Matenda, a fund manager who represents shareholders invested in operator Econet on the stock exchange. "But the beauty of technology is that you don't play catch-up for too long; you can jump a few stages."
Telecoms players in Zimbabwe say the growth has been the result of a boom in investment in the industry over the past five years.
"The increase in mobile penetration has been triggered by increased investment in infrastructure, meaning that marginalised people can now afford to use cellphones," says Alfred Marisa, head of telecoms regulator Potraz.
The trend is changing fast
Five years ago, the race was only to give customers access, but the trend is changing fast as the market begins to demand more modern technology. This means that companies have to invest even more in new technology, even as revenue growth is beginning to slow.
"All these new devices that people are buying, such as tablets and smartphones, require ever increasing capability from the network. This means we have to buy new network equipment all the time," says Econet chief executive Douglas Mboweni. He says Econet has invested $1-billion since 2008.
About nine out of 10 youths in Zimbabwe have access to cellphones, according to a 2013 survey by the Mass Public Opinion Institute.
This is good news for operators, but it also means they have to be smarter about the services they offer.
"We have been aware of this [slowdown in voice revenue growth] for a long time and we are addressing it by investing in and developing new sources of revenue. While this takes time, we are now seeing very encouraging signs that our strategy is beginning to bear fruit," Mboweni said recently.
Mobile money is a major part of that strategy to diversify. All three mobile companies are now offering mobile money services. NetOne and Telecel have recently launched mobile money offerings to rival EcoCash, Econet's mobile money service.
Uptake of the services has been high as operators target millions of people who have had no access to financial services by making it easier to transact, without the high charges and red tape they face with banks.