Zimbabwe network intelligence.POTRAZ Q1 2026 — open data.

Coveragedecoded.

Zimbabwe telecoms infrastructure by the numbers. Province coverage, operator deployments, and sector trends from the POTRAZ Q1 2026 report.

Internet penetration87.39%+2.84pp
Mobile subscriptions17.28M+2.99%
5G base stations379+13 this quarter
National fibre19,213 km+33.83%
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5G population coverage 18.94%LTE population 95.90%3G rural 73.80%Mobile data +57.28% YoYFixed internet 621 PBMNO capex +152% QoQBroadband 85.83%Econet 74.80% share5G population coverage 18.94%LTE population 95.90%3G rural 73.80%Mobile data +57.28% YoYFixed internet 621 PBMNO capex +152% QoQBroadband 85.83%Econet 74.80% share
02 — 5G Deployment

Active 5G zones

Econet 353 · NetOne 26
Q1 2026
Harare
Harare CBD
60% est.

Primary 5G zone. Econet operations concentrated here.

Harare
Harare North
45% est.

Borrowdale, Avondale, Highlands corridor.

Bulawayo
Bulawayo
28% est.

Partial rollout, city centre only. Econet.

Mashonaland East
Chitungwiza
12% est.

Peri-urban spillover from Harare corridor.

Mashonaland West
Norton
8% est.

Limited. Harare–Bulawayo corridor.

Mashonaland East
Marondera
8% est.

Small urban node. Eastbound corridor.

5G is exclusively urban (POTRAZ Table 10). 18.94% population coverage nationally. Econet operates 353 of 379 total 5G base stations. Zone estimates are interpolated — not from the POTRAZ report.

03 — Metrics

Q1 2026 sector

vs Q4 2025
Mobile data traffic179 PB+57.28% year-on-year
Internet subscriptions13.9M+5.00% QoQ
Fixed internet traffic621 PB+29.39% QoQ
Broadband penetration85.83%+3.20pp QoQ
M2M subscriptions231,800+1.78% QoQ
MNO capital expenditureZWG 2.73B+152% QoQ
04 — National coverage

By technology

POTRAZ Table 10
Verbatim
2G
Geographic coverage
83.06%
Population coverage
99.9%
Rural population
79.03%
3G
Geographic coverage
75.9%
Population coverage
99.9%
Rural population
73.8%
LTE
Geographic coverage
61.8%
Population coverage
95.9%
Rural population
32.8%
5G
Geographic coverage
15.95%
Population coverage
18.94%
Rural population
0%
05 — Operators

Breakdown

Q1 2026 · POTRAZ
OperatorMarket shareSubscribersStations 2G / 3G / LTE / 5G
Econet WirelessEW · Zimbabwe
74.8%
12.93M
G2 3055G3 2071LTE 1951G5 353
NetOne CellularNO · Zimbabwe
23.43%
4.05M
G2 1443G3 1631LTE 1778G5 26
Telecel ZimbabweTC · Zimbabwe
1.77%
305K
G2 671G3 435LTE 17G5 0
Econet WirelessEW · Zimbabwe
Market share
74.8%
Subscribers12.93M
G2 3055G3 2071LTE 1951G5 353
NetOne CellularNO · Zimbabwe
Market share
23.43%
Subscribers4.05M
G2 1443G3 1631LTE 1778G5 26
Telecel ZimbabweTC · Zimbabwe
Market share
1.77%
Subscribers305K
G2 671G3 435LTE 17G5 0
06 — Roadmap

Three phases

Open data project
Live now
Illustrative province map

Province-level coverage from POTRAZ quarterly reports. National figures are verbatim. Province estimates interpolated from Table 9 station distribution.

  • HDX Zimbabwe shapefiles
  • POTRAZ Q1 2026 data
  • Quarterly manual update
  • Leaflet choropleth render
Up next
Tower-level coverage

Real tower GPS coordinates from OpenCelliD filtered to MCC 648. Clustered markers by zoom level with per-tower technology metadata.

  • OpenCelliD MCC 648
  • Leaflet MarkerCluster
  • Per-technology colour coding
  • Last-seen timestamp per tower
Planned
Live coverage check

Address or coordinate input querying Econet and NetOne coverage APIs to return real-time signal availability at any point.

  • Econet / NetOne coverage API
  • Nominatim OSM geocoding
  • Technology availability per point
  • Signal strength estimates
07 — About

The project

ZimConnect is an open data project that makes Zimbabwe's quarterly telecoms data legible. Coverage statistics sit inside dense PDF reports. This site pulls them out and puts them on a map.

All national figures are verbatim from the POTRAZ Q1 2026 Sector Performance Report, published 23 June 2026. Province-level coverage percentages are estimates — interpolated from national totals and per-operator station distribution (Table 9). They are clearly labelled as such throughout the site.

Built by Spencer Chakabva, based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Found an error? Open a GitHub issue or submit via the Updates form below.

SourcePOTRAZ Q1 2026
Published23 Jun 2026
National figuresVerbatim
Province figuresEstimated
Map tilesCARTO
Next updateQ2 2026 report
LicenseMIT — open source