Postal, telecoms revenue up 90%

BUSINESS REPORTER

Annual revenue for the postal and telecommunications sector was up 89.9% in inflation-adjusted terms to ZWL$38.8bn last year from ZWL$4.5bn in 2019, driven by the growth in internet and data usage despite a rise in operating costs and a dip in voice traffic, a new report has shown.

In its report, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) said operating costs were up 40.1% in inflation-adjusted terms to ZWL$20.6bn from ZWL$3.3bn in 2019.

 Capital expenditure was up 11.3% in inflation adjusted terms to ZWL$900.6m from ZWL$180m in 2019.

“The year 2020 was characterised by a trend of growing revenues amidst rising operating costs across all subsectors owing to the inflationary economic environment,” POTRAZ said in a report released Monday.

The sector recorded a surge internet and data usage due to increased adoption of e-learning and telecommuting, POTRAZ said.

“A total of 48 781 TB of mobile and internet data were consumed in 2020. This represents a growth of 36.6% from 35,733 TB in 2019,” it said.

“Total mobile and fixed voice traffic declined to 6,095,683,710 minutes in 2020 from 6,150,783,671 minute in 2019.”

Postal and courier volume dipped by more than half to 2.3m items from 5.3m items.  International incoming courier declined by 60.2% to 464,456 items from 1.17m items in 2019.

“The implementation of lockdown restrictions in various jurisdictions negatively impacted the channelling of mail and international courier in particular,” POTRAZ said.

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