Do You Know Who owns NetOne Zimbabwe?

Who owns NetOne Zimbabwe? NetOne is a company that is 100% owned by the government of Zimbabwe. NetOne was formed as a subsidiary of the Post and Telecommunication Corporation (PTC) in 1996.

During that period the PTC unbundled into three companies with NetOne dealing with the mobile network, TelOne dealing with fixed landline services, and Zimpost dealing with postal services.

Before it was PTC the company was a self-governing entity under the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and it was organized by the British South Africa company in 1892. PTC was born after a new amendment in the newly independent Zimbabwe in 1980. 

Are NetOne and TelOne the same thing? 

NetOne is Zimbabwe’s first-ever network based on Global System for Mobile Communications(GSM). It is now the second largest after Econet Wireless. The company was launched with 500 sim cards at the World Solar Summit in Harare in 1996. 

TelOne on the other hand is the fixed landline service provider offering voice services as well as broadband. Though both companies are government-owned, they both have their own board of directors that are appointed by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. 

Though being the second largest network provider out of three in Zimbabwe, NetOne has been under a challenging period over the last couple of years. For that reason, the government of Zimbabwe is selling NetOne to ease the financial burden. 

So far no buyer has committed to buying the struggling giant. The main reason buyers are hesitating to commit is the amount of debt the parastatal is currently in. The finance minister, Mthuli Ncube, has offered a bundle for whoever will buy NetOne.

Instead of getting one company, the buyer will get both NetOne and TelOne. The two companies will still be separate entities but the buyer will get both companies with 100% ownership for both. However, buyers are still hesitant because TelOne is also ridden in debt. The main challenge for the two companies has been a lack of investment from the government and poor management of the organization. 

Who is interested in NetOne? 

One of the major companies that showed interest in buying NetOne was MTN for a 51% stake. MTN backed out when the talks were really advanced over the issue of debt. Another company that was considered for this deal is Telkom. 

Telone is very much similar to Telkom in the sense that both companies are government-owned and both started off with fixed landline services. Telkom seems to be a much better fit in this scenario though the Zimbabwean marketplace is very different compared to South Africa. The question is whether they would be willing to take over these two companies with their debt.   

Besides the many challenges NetOne has found itself in, they continue to provide great service to their customers. Their bundles are slightly cheaper compared to Econet and their coverage is far better compared to Telecel the third operator. Their mobile money platform, OneCash, has been doing fairly well in terms of market share.