eBusiness Weekly
Chipo Sabeta
State-owned mobile network provider, NetOne, is targeting to boost its active subscriber base by leveraging on Zimbabwe’s extensive football supporter base.
This comes as the company recently unveiled a $1 million package for the country’s three biggest football teams, Dynamos, Caps United and Highlanders.
The sponsorship package fits into the company’s 2018 target to increase the subscriber base by 5 percent. According to the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz)’s report for the third quarter, NetOne’s prepaid subscribers grew 0, 48 percent to 4 868 897 from 4 845 458 in the second quarter of 2017.
With approximately 10 million supporters for all the three teams, market experts say NetOne has made a step in the right direction as it will have direct reach to this support base, thereby consolidating its position on the market.
In the game-changing mega deal, each club is set to receive $350 000 for their operations and related expenses for the 2018 football season.
Acting chief executive Brian Mutandiro said the company is optimistic that the big teams will continue drawing fans and in the process improve NetOne’s visibility.
“Let me hasten to say, as NetOne we envisage this partnership to be a win-win situation as we anticipate the teams to play their respective parts in promoting our brand and endearing it to their multitude of supporters.
“Various initiatives will be rolled out the entire year as we seek to make the partnership sustainable. What it means is that clubs benefiting from our sponsorship have a role to play for this partnership to be a success. As a business, our objection is for the clubs to be able to encourage their supporters to use the NetOne package available in order to sustain the sponsorship going forward.
“Once this ambitious project succeeds, we see no reason why we should not come back with a bigger offering next year and if this happens, everyone becomes a winner, especially football,” added the CEO.
