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MOBILE SUBSCRIBERS INCREASE BY 92%

17/01/2021 00:11:00 BY WELCOME DLAMINI

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MBABAne – The 2019/2020 financial year looked to have been a positive year for mobile telecommunications company Eswatini Mobile.

Regulator of the telecommunications industry – the Eswatini Communications Commissions (ESCCOM) - has highlighted that during the past financial year, the mobile operator saw the number of its subscribers grow considerably.

Eswatini Mobile, formerly known as Swazi Mobile, was granted a licence on February 17, 2017 and became the third telecommunications operator after MTN Eswatini and the Eswatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC).

In the commission’s latest report for the financial year ended March 30, 2020, which was published on Tuesday, it is stated that during the end of this reporting period, mobile cellular subscriptions in the country reached 1 124 386, which translates to a nine per cent increase from the 1 034 5692 mobile cellular subscriptions recorded at the end of 2018/19.

“Subscription increases are mainly attributed to a significant annual growth in Eswatini Mobile subscriptions of 92 per cent. MTN Eswatini, which has an 85 per cent market share of mobile subscriptions, only grew by one per cent,” the regulator, through its Chief Executive Officer, Mvilawemphi Dlamini, reported.

subscribers

When taking these numbers into consideration, they mean that from 2018/2019 to 2019/2020, the number of mobile cellular subscribers in the country increased by 89 817 and 92 per cent of this figure shows that Eswatini Mobile’s subscribers increased by 82 631 while those of MTN Eswatini went up by 898.

Eswatini Mobile also recorded an increase in the fixed internet broadband subscriptions and its markets share is now second only to EPTC, which recorded a decline of almost six per cent.

While EPTC, through Eswatini.net, has 47.3 per cent market share from 54.2 per cent in the 2018/2019 financial year and 72 per cent in 2017/2018, Eswatini Mobile now enjoys 25.3 per cent market share, which is a slight growth from the 25 per cent in 2018/2019 and a huge increase from the 5.7 per cent in 2017/2018.

MTN Eswatini, on the other hand, has a market share of 11 per cent of the fixed internet broadband subscription, which is an increase from the 6.6 per cent recorded in 2018/2019 and 6.2 per cent in 2017/2018.

MTN’s market share is below that of Real Image, with the latter service provider enjoying a 11.1 per cent share, which is a decline from the 11.4 per cent in 2018/2019 and 12.4 per cent in 2017/2018.

The rest of the market share is spread among other service providers such as Jenny (three per cent in 2019/2020; 0.7 per cent in 2018/2019 and 0.5 per cent in 2017/2018), Touch IT (two per cent in 2019/2020; two per cent in 2018/2019 and two per cent in 2017/2019) and others (0.4 per cent in 2019/2020; 0.5 per cent in 2018/2019 and 0.5 per cent in 2017/2018).

ESCCOM said the Eswatini fixed internet broadband services were mainly delivered through fixed-wired and fixed-wireless technology.

“Fixed-wired broadband subscriptions, namely; copper and fibre, have been on a downward trend since FY2017/18. Fixed-wireless subscriptions on the other hand, have been on an upward trajectory, growing by 26 per cent from 9 731 subscriptions in FY2018/9 to 12 289 in FY2019/20, surpassing fixed-wired, which in FY2018/19 was at 12 283 from 13 082, a decline of six per cent,” the CEO reported.

Meanwhile, Dlamini reported that 2G and 3G technology continued to dominate mobile network connections, largely attributed to an extensive investment in network rollout, spanning over a decade.

He said 2G and 3G accounted for 42 per cent of total mobile connections in March 2020 alone.

Dlamini said the 4G/LTE connectivity, which was introduced in 2016 accounted for 15 per cent of total mobile connectivity in the same month.

“The growth in mobile connectivity during the 2019/20 financial year is also reflected in the mobile penetration rate, which increased from 95 per cent in 2018/19 to 103 per cent in 2019/20,” the CEO said.

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He said mobile broadband subscriptions increased from 724 035 in March 2019 to 849 121 in March 2020.

He said data and voice mobile-broadband subscriptions, on the other hand, which are typically smartphone-based with voice and data used in the same terminal, accounted for 97 per cent of total mobile broadband connection growth.

Dlamini further said data only mobile subscriptions, however, declined by 17 per cent in 2019/20.

The CEO also reported that used international internet bandwidth over EPTC’s international internet links continued to increase in 2019/20, reaching 9 600Mbps in March 2020, up from the 6 340Mbps in March 2019.

On average, he pointed out, used international internet bandwidth in the period was 7 572Mbps, also up from 5 745Mbps in the FY2018/19.

“This increase in international internet bandwidth capacity is a reflection of higher demand and usage of broadband services. Eswatini.net and Eswatini Mobile accounted for the largest increase in average used international internet bandwidth capacity in FY2019/20,” he said.

When it comes to traffic, Dlamini reported that domestic voice traffic, which is the total number of minute calls made by subscribers within Eswatini, over both mobile and fixed lines in the 2019/2020 financial year increased by 12 per cent to reach 2.7 billion minutes from a recorded 2.4 billion minutes in 2018/19.

On-net traffic which accounts for the largest share of domestic voice traffic was reportedly the main driver of this growth, while off-net traffic grew by 22 per cent.

“The higher usage of voice services was underpinned by an increase in mobile cellular subscriptions and fixed line subscriptions. It is worth noting that off-net traffic performance over the medium term resulted from the commission implementing market reforms to promote competition in the Call Termination Market, and consequently reduced the cost of communication,” the CEO reported.

He stated that outbound roaming traffic, which is total call minutes made and received by domestic subscribers using local mobile network SIMs out of the country on foreign networks, declined slightly from 5 021 469 minutes to 4 959 252 minutes in 2019/20.

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Dlamini said the outcome of the SADC Home and Away Roaming Project, which is in its last phase of implementation, remains a positive possibility for the roaming market.

“In the event roaming tariffs are reduced and harmonised in the SADC region, usage of roaming services is expected to increase and consequently cause an increase in roaming traffic,’ the CEO said.

With Eswatini Mobile and MTN Eswatini using 2G, 3G and 4G (LTE) technologies, the CEO said these service providers have combined network coverage of over 98 per cent population coverage for 2G, 90 per cent for 3G and almost 60 per cent coverage for 4G/LTE.

These service providers, according to Dlamini, were currently engaged in an aggressive expansion exercise for 4G/LTE networks with plans to attain at 85 per cent population coverage in the next three years.

He said 5G was the next big leap in the telecommunications industry and the Kingdom of Eswatini will not be left behind, stating that one of the local operators had already committed to undertaking a limited 5G pilot as early as the first quarter of 2021 in preparation for a wholesale deployment in 2022.

“ESCCOM is responding to ensure that the required spectrum is available, and all regulatory tools are in place to manage the transition and other related issues. The commission is also looking at operationalising the sector CIRT and expanding capabilities in fighting cybercrime,” the CEO added.