Telecel Zimbabwe says it has seen its active subscriber base grow considerably over the past few months, contrary to recent media reports.
The companys managing director John Swaim said growth in the number of subscribers had grown steadily and the network expected to hit the two million active subscriber mark by July this year. Swain said figures provided by Telecel were based solely on its active subscriber count.
An active subscriber refers to a customer who has made a revenue-generating activity within the last 90 days. This is the officially accepted GSM definition.
There is also a reported capacity called home location register, which refers to the total installed capacity including those subscribers who have not been active over 90 days as well as those whose lines are inactive pending registration and the subsequent initial activation, Swaim said.
The number of Telecel active subscribers had increased, he said, from 1 500 000 at the end of December 2011 to 1,8 million at the end of March, an increase of 300 000 subscribers.
Swaim said statistics reported recently in the Press were incorrect. At the end of the first quarter of this year, Telecel had 1 800 000 active subscribers as opposed to the incorrect 1 500 000 reported.
The incorrect figures had reflected a loss of more than 300 000 subscribers in the first three months of the year, when in fact, the reverse was the case. There had been a gain, not a loss, of more than 300 000 subscribers.
