frequency bands are already in use by other systems.

Operation for most MNOs is in the licensed

1800MHz band while plans are being mooted to also shift to the licensed 800MHz band and the
unlicensed spectrum bands as demand increases as shown in Table below. In most countries
(including Zimbabwe) the 1800 band is used for GSM (DCS 1800) which the band is now being
shared by the two systems

Table 4.3 LTE frequency bands in use by Zimbabwe MNOs

MNO/LTE Band NetOne Econet Telecel TelOne Africom

900 No No
1800 Yes Yes
2100 No No
800 In the future In the future
Unlicensed band In the future In the future

4.4.8 Subscriber base

Subscribers are the most important assets of any operator. Operators are constantly improving their
services in order to retain their loyal customers and lure new ones. The more subscribers an
operator have the more money the operator can generate at from a legacy network perspective.
Thus subscriber base is directly linked to network coverage. That is wider your network coverage
is the more subscribers you are expected to have if all other factors are kept constant. In 4G systems
this might not be the case since some of the 4G services might not be relevant to some sections of
the subscribers. Hence it is imperative for MNOs to evolve their KPIs to factor such scenarios.
The MNOs could not provide figures of the subscribers who have so far taken up 4G systems.
They claimed that it was against company policies divulge such figures for research or for any
other purpose.

4.4.9 Aggregation Issues with legacy systems

System aggregation is a very serious problem for MNOs when new systems are introduced. The
new systems should be able to seamlessly integrate and be backward compatible with existing
ones. Totally replacing a system with a new one is not an option in most cases and has political
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