21st Key for NetOne

NetOne acting chief executive officer Brian Mutandiro 

…as OneFusion rocks the Nation

THE biggest significance of the 21st birthday is that it is the moment where someone turns into an adult. Turning 21 means a lot of things, it means one needs to decide their destiny, show maturity, beginning to think more about those around him and most importantly take in consideration that whatever decision they make at this age will have an impact on their lives on future – be it positive or negative.

The same can be said about NetOne.

NetOne, the first mobile phone network to be granted an operating licence in 1996, is pursuing a conservative strategy, banking on support from its sole shareholder, government.

The company was originally launched during the World Solar Summit in September 1996 in in Harare with 2000 lines up for grabs. Service was extended to Bulawayo at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in April 1997.
This year the parastatal turns  21 and with the emerging trends , one can be forgiven to assert that NetOne is finally on its feet and has made its intention clear. NetOne, like many parastatals had over the years been associated with loss making and mismanagement which saw competition overtaking them despite them being the first to be on the market.  The government embarked on a restructuring exercise in October 2015 which saw new faces coming in, some retaining their posts and some falling by the wayside. The new team which is a mixture of youth and experience immediately hit the ground running and in less than two years has made positive strides at the state enterprise as they have shaken the market. The aggressiveness coming from the team has without a doubt seen NetOne being one of the most talked about brands and arguably the most dominant in the market which has reconnected with subscribers due to its innovative, affordable and efficient products with the aim of changing lives of Zimbabweans.

According to the Postal and Telecommunication Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) 2016 sector performance report  , NetOne was the only Mobile Network Operator to register a growth in  subscriber growth .NetOne saw its active subscriber base growing by 14 percent last year to 4 712 410 when rivals registered a drop in numbers. The growth in active subscribers saw NetOne’s market share increasing to 36,6 percent in the fourth quarter ended December 31 up from 36,4 percent in the previous quarter. There has been a growing number of subscribers migrating to the Network operator owing to the popular OneFusion product which is arguably the best product currently on the market and Zimbabweans have fallen in love with it.

 The legacy NetOne was known mainly for the Dollar A Day promotion and One Wallet which is a mobile money service platform among other products. Of late the parastatal has been innovative and consistently launching products that meet the needs of subscribers. Since the start of 2017, NetOne has launched six new products as it seeks to transform itself from being a mobile service provider to an all-round telecoms outfit that offers voice, video, internet, mobility, iptv and other applications.
Last month, NetOne launched One-Fi and ONE-Cliq, described by acting chief executive officer (CEO), Brian Mutandiro during the launch , as meant to meet “the ever changing needs of our customers and the insatiable quest for innovative technologies” He went on to explain why the company is on a sustained innovative drive  “One of the major legacy challenges we were confronted with was our overdependence on one package, namely, Dollar a Day in its original format.

This package was offering mostly voice at a giveaway tariff of close to 1cent/minute whilst the other operators had an average tariff yield of about 12cents/minute. In this scenario the network was subject to severe congestion and network resources were stretched without commensurate revenue benefits. Within two months of my being in this position we overhauled our product structure to make the Dollar a Day package an optional offering rather than an automatic benefit. The immediate impact of this was a significant improvement of our average tariff per minute to 8cents and decongestion of network resources which enabled the network to offer high quality revenue generating products. The business is now geared for profitable growth. We now have additional capacity to launch other value added services which have become favourites for subscribers. With this rebasing of our revenue structure we laid a foundation for a turnaround” He said

NetOne’s One-Fi is has been embraced by most businesses, churches, homes, universities, schools, shopping malls, hotels and any other public places.

One-Fi is has been embraced by most businesses, churches, homes, universities, schools, shopping malls, hotels and any other public places.
“We are excited that we have the capability to offer multimedia services… and the product we bring to the nation can connect up to 32 people at the same location using a NetOne SIM card,” said Mutandiro at the launch of the latest products early this month The parastatal recently launched News on One, to allow subscribers to listen to Radio news on their phones, Khuluma 24 /7, allowing subscribers to make calls across networks at lower rates among others.
Last year, NetOne also introduced an integrated prepaid package called OneFusion which has been viewed as a game changer in the market. OneFusion is a popular product from NetOne which is very affordable and offers an all-round access to communication services. Through, OneFusion Zimbabweans get value for their money through affordable rates and quality service. The bundles start from US$5 all the way up to US$200. One Fusion’s cheapest offerings are the US$5 which last for a period of 30days.  It offers 60 on net voice minutes, 18 minutes to other networks, 300MB data, 700MB WhatsApp bundles, 900MB Facebook bundles and 10sms. The larger offers from US$50 upwards also include international voice minutes. This has managed to lure subscribers who are migrating to this product. The Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Dr Walter Mzembi who was Africa’s candidate for the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Secretary General position enjoyed the benefits of the product during his campaign as he travelled around the world as the mobile network operator met all his communication needs during the campaign that ended this Month.The mobile-telecommunication company has embarked on an ambitious project “dubbed “Basa se Basa” which will see it empowering subscribers through employment opportunities.

NetOne intends to recruit at least 20 000 youths aged between 19 and 35 from the country’s 10 provinces in the next six months with each province empowering 2 000 youths. The project has already commenced in Harare as the brand ambassadors have painted the city orange in the last two weeks aggressively selling the products by invading the suburbs, industrial sites and the central business district. This has seen people stampeding to buy the products.

Some telecoms experts have tried to push NetOne to exploit the opportunity of the millions migrating to their network through increasing the tariffs of OneFusion owing to the fact that it is not giving the much needed profits. However, NetOne has remained adamant that it will maintain the customer friendly tariffs so that “Zimbabweans have access to affordable communication solutions and we cannot celebrate ripping off our beloved customers at the expense of profits. The revenues will come as we have put measures to that effect soon”. Said Mutandiro at a media briefing in April.

Whilst we agree that the reason for the existence of a business is to make profits, stakeholders should be patient and not expect the turnaround to be instant. The overall market is depressed with blue chip companies posting losses in recently published results. NetOne has been making perennial losses in the past years and reports are that despite the losses emanating from legacy issues, NetOne realised at least a growth in revenue for the year 2015 and narrowed the losses which is a sign of upward trajectory. This is a time of rebirth and NetOne is visibly building blocks that will eventually bring value if they keep their eyes on the ball. We must not forget that that the present and future of the NetOne finances are also influenced by the past. Inasmuch as the company strives to make profits, the legacy ghost will always haunt them and they have to solve their issues. In this light there must be a sigh of relief that at least the giant has reawakened and is complying with statutory bodies and have made payment plans for obligations that had not been paid for years and accrued penalties. This is the dilemma most businesses cannot hide from especially parastatals, unless legacy issues are addressed, they will haunt the present which cumulatively have an impact on the future.

The competitive telecoms environment is brutal and advise to the Parastatal as they turn 21 and are visibly getting the key to life, they must take it for granted nor think NetOne has arrived. Yes, subscribers are migrating to your network and there is a reconnection BUT once you take advantage of them and get big headed surely they will leave the network hence a need to leverage on the current trend.  The company needs to continue finding alternative sources of revenue growth to cushion against declining contributions from traditional voice and SMS as a result of competition from Over the Top services (OTTs) like WhatsApp and Viber. The strategy to optimize underutilized capacity through cutting edge LTE network has worked due its network expansion project catalysed by the US$218 million loan from the China Exim Bank facilitated by the government. As subscribers increase, we hope there will be continuous Network optimisation as per the regulatory requirements. We hope dividends to the shareholder will start coming in the coming years so as to ease the economic pressures hence a lot of expectations from the nation.