Studies & Intelligence

Growing economy, low connectivity: Zimbabwe

The signal already reaches most Zimbabweans; the price of data, the power behind each site and the state's paper processes do not. Five moves that would unlock growth, and who can realistically pay for each

Zimbabwe's economy grew about 8% in 2025, yet only about 42% of people use the internet. Mobile coverage is not the main problem: LTE covers about 96% of the urban population and there are close to one mobile connection per person. The binding constraints are the price of data (Cable.co.uk ranks Zimbabwe the most expensive of 237 territories at US$43.75 per GB), unreliable power at sites and digital centres, and a government that still runs many licences and permits on paper. This study maps the gap, sets out five sequenced moves (cheaper data, power-resilient shared rural sites, satellite-backed digital centres, interoperable government rails, and local data-centre capacity) and identifies who funds each. Because Zimbabwe is still in arrears to international lenders, most money today comes from operators, the 1.5% Universal Service Fund levy, Chinese export credit and private infrastructure companies. An illustrative model shows rural shared sites only reach low-teens returns with roughly 40% public co-funding.