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Golden Sibanda Senior Business Reporter
THE value of mobile money transfers rose by 80 percent to $1,4 billion in 2014 against the prior year in tandem with the now widespread use of cell phones in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s biggest mobile network operator, Econet Wireless, enjoyed a lion’s share of the transactions with a near monopoly of the mobile money market at 98 percent.

This is according to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe’s quarterly report, which also says subscribers rose 72 percent in the 12 months.

“An annual comparison of total value of transactions shows that deposits increased by 80,8 percent to record $1,442 billion in 2014 from $797,9 million recorded in 2013,” Potraz said.

This saw the mobile network operators smile all the way to the bank with revenue of $907,3 million in 2014, this however, represented a 17,9 percent decline compared to 2013.

Fourth quarter revenues for 2014 also show an 11,3 percent decline from $247,8 million generated in the prior quarter to $219,7 million generated in the last quarter of 2014.

Mobile money subscribers increased by 71,9 percent to reach 5 299 271 in 2014 from 3 083 126 subscribers at the end of 2013, as operators increased network coverage.

The postal and telecoms regulator said that agents increased by 14 210 agents to 23 379 from 9 169 agents recorded in 2013, allowing increased access to mobile money services.

An annual comparison shows that the total number of base stations expanded by 9,7 percent from 4 452 recorded in 2013 to reach 4 886 base stations at the end of 2014.

The total number of mobile money transfer subscriptions grew by 7,3 percent to reach 5,3 million from 4,9 million subscribers achieved in the previous quarter, Potraz said.

The total value of transfers and transactions on mobile money services increased by 10,6 percent to record $445,7 million from $403,1 million recorded in the previous quarter.

Potraz said that the country`s active mobile subscriber base grew by 3,5 percent to reach 11,8 million from 11,4 million subscribers recorded in same period the prior quarter.

The mobile penetration (active) increased from 87,3 percent in the third quarter to 90,3 percent. In terms of subscribers Econet had 6,4 million, Telecel 2,1 million and NetOne 3,1 million.

Econet lost 20 519 subscribers in the quarter under review (December 2014). Telecel lost 71 576 subscribers whereas NetOne gained 486 959 subscribers in the same period.

While this was the only quarter in 2014 in which Econet experienced a decline in active subscribers, Telecel’s subscriber base has been declining consecutively.

Once Zimbabwe second largest mobile network operator for a considerable period, it has seen subscribers decline from 2,5 million in December 2013 to 2,1 million 12 months later.