Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited (Econet) reported data traffic volumes going up by 89.5% in a trading update for the third quarter ending 30 November 2020 as compared to the same period the previous year.
Company Secretary C. Banda says the COVID-19 pandemic helped Econet to understand the opportunities presented by digitalization.
“Our past investment in resilient network infrastructure has positioned us to be the digital connectivity partner of choice,” Banda says.
“We continue to enable our customers to work and learn from home whilst observing social distancing etiquette. This is reflected in the data traffic volumes which have increased by 89.5% from the previous year.”
Econet’s SMS traffic volumes for the third quarter ending 30 November 2020 also went up by 32.1% as compared to the same period in 2019.
“The growth we have experienced in SMS volumes reflects the increased adoption and usage of e-commerce platforms which drives customer SMS interactions,” Banda says.
“We aspire to be the partner of choice for enterprises, SMEs, the government and other institutions in order to grow our active customer base and sustain voice traffic volumes.”
Restrictions in movement by the government have resulted in people using e-commerce to do business replacing direct face to face interactions.
The voice volumes for the period under review however went up by 1%.
Banda says, “Whilst voice traffic volumes declined slightly following the headline tariff adjustments in July 2020 and August 2020, they have since started to recover.”
“This price correction for telecommunications services was necessary as price adjustments were lagging behind inflation, in the previous periods.”
