By Desire Tshuma
Harare – Thirty years ago, making a mobile phone call in Zimbabwe was a luxury few could imagine. Roads carried news, letters took days, and the idea that a handheld device could be a classroom, bank, and hospital all at once felt like science fiction.
Today, as NetOne celebrates its Pearl Anniversary, that vision has become reality. From launching Zimbabwe’s first mobile network in 1996, the state-owned operator has evolved into what it now calls “a national enabler” of the country’s digital economy.
The journey has not been smooth. Just five years ago, NetOne was technically insolvent. Auditors recorded massive losses of US$40 million in 2022, customers were leaving, and legacy systems were weighing the company down.
That changed when Engineer Raphael Mushanawani took over the helm.
At the company’s recent Annual General Meeting, NetOne reported a 62% year-on-year revenue increase and 68% growth in EBITDA. The biggest driver was data, which surged 110% as more Zimbabweans moved to cloud platforms for work, school and enteRevenue for 2025 reached US$210 million. Now Mushanawani has set an audacious target: a US$1 billion company by 2029.
“We want to be the number one network,” Mushanawani said. “The first thirty years were about connecting Zimbabwe. The next thirty years will be about empowering Zimbabwe to thrive in the digital age.”
To get there, NetOne is betting big on infrastructure. In the last 12 months alone, the company deployed 86 new base stations , including 264 LTE sites and 16 with full 5G capability.
It now operates 46.14% of all rural base stations in Zimbabwe the largest share bringing connectivity to communities long left offline. In Q4 2025, data traffic rose 18.5% to 29.97 billion megabytes, while active subscribers grew to over 4.1 million.
The move into 5G, still new in Zimbabwe, positions NetOne for future industries: high-definition streaming, virtual conferencing, industrial IoT, and precision agriculture.
Perhaps the most visible impact has been in health. Through the OneHealth–Telehealth Initiative, a brainchild of the First Lady Dr. Auxillia Mnangagwa and launched by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in 2024, NetOne has set up over 20 virtual telemedicine sites nationwide.
In October 2025, the company opened one of Zimbabwe’s first fully digital rural health hubs in Ntunungwe, Matabeleland South .
This Virtual Telemedicine Hospital is not just a booth — it is a hospital without walls; a medical bridge between Ntunungwe and the rest of Zimbabwe,” Mushanawani said at the launch. “For many years, mothers have travelled long distances with sick children. Today, we say: help has come home.”
Each booth has smart health kits, secure video consultation, and nurses on site — connecting villagers to doctors hundreds of kilometers away.
NetOne’s mandate now stretches beyond calls and data. The company has rolled out Smart Agriculture and Smart Mining platforms with weather analytics and digital claim management. With the Ministry of Youth, it is running a digital skills drive, with Mushanawani calling technology “the new pickaxe.”
On corporate social responsibility, NetOne has equipped schools with computers, installed solar power, built nutritional gardens, and supported anti-drug campaigns. In July 2025, it handed over a renovated 8-classroom block and 40-unit solar computer lab at Mtetengwe Primary in Beitbridge.
Mushanawani’s leadership has earned national recognition. He was named Business Leader of the Year 2025 by the ZNCC and Overall Platinum Winner at the Zimbabwe CEOs Network Awards.
Aligned to Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy, NetOne says its next decade will focus on inclusion: leaving “no one and no place behind.”
From the first crackling mobile call in 1996 to virtual hospitals and 5G, NetOne’s 30-year story mirrors Zimbabwe’s own digital transformation.
As the company sets sail toward a billion-dollar horizon, the message is clear: with vision and discipline, even the deepest turnaround is possible.