The Sunday News
Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWEANS spend over US$500 million on prepaid cellular phone airtime yearly, representing over 85 percent of all ICT services expenditure.Cumulatively, over US$1,1 billion goes to airtime and other ICT products and services.
According to the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency’s latest ICT Household Survey Report (June 2013-June 2014), Harare tops the list, spending US$200 million; followed by Bulawayo at US$52,4 million. US$2 million, the report says, went to contract line usage and US$658 million to services like the Internet (US$42,3 million), fixed telephony (US$13 million) and ICT equipment repair (US$12,9 million), among others. A further US$231,5 million was used to buy ICTs and related equipment.
South Africa spends about US$600 million on airtime annually, while Zambia, with 11 million cellphone users, spends about US$430 million.
The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe commissioned the survey to establish the digital divide and then formulate appropriate ICT policies and strategies. The digital divide is the gap in opportunity between individuals, households, businesses and geographical areas at different socio-economic levels in accessing ICTs and the Internet.
Though the survey only covered 12 months, it can be used to deduce Zimbabweans’ general spending patterns on ICTs.
There are about 12,4 million cellphone lines in use, according to Potraz. This was the second ICT survey Potraz conducted, the first coming in 2010 and covering rural agricultural households only. The 2014 survey covered Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces and all land use sectors. In 2014, Potraz slashed voice call tariffs from USc23 to USc15 per minute under a new pricing model, the Long-Run Incremental Cost. Tariffs were reduced to USc12 in early 2016 and will be USc9 in 2017.
