Zimbabwe's Econet H1 profit down as customers spend less on calls

HARARE (Reuters) - Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe's top mobile operator, reported a near 10 percent drop in half-year profit on Tuesday, hit by slowing growth in voice revenue and a one-time licence renewal fee. Econet's March-August net profit totalled $70.56 million, down from $78 million the previous year, the company said. The number of subscribers rose to 8.5 million. Revenue grew by 11 percent to $376.6 million. That was down from 17 percent in the same period a year earlier, as customers spent less on voice calls. Econet also paid $137 million to renew a 20-year licence in July, which also ate into its profit. Chief executive Douglas Mboweni said its mobile money transfer service, Ecocash, had processed $1.2 billion in transactions in the last six months and now contributed 10 percent of total revenue.