Zimbabwe's state-owned NetOne says it began as a special business unit of the Posts and Telecommunications Corporation on 25 September 1996 to provide mobile telecommunications services. This is the documented starting point for its cellular service and the country's early mobile-network era.

Econet's own history identifies its launch on 10 July 1998 as Zimbabwe's first PRIVATE mobile network. These are not competing claims: NetOne arrived earlier, and Econet established a later milestone in private-sector network operation.

Mobile telephony changed how Zimbabweans communicated, worked and built businesses. A complete archive should collect the first handsets, tariffs, coverage maps, shopfronts, service providers, engineers and ordinary subscriber stories from each decade.

The words 'first cellphone' can be misleading without specifying whether they mean the first device imported, first registered subscriber, first commercial mobile service or first private network. OurPride will record the precisely evidenced version, rather than invent a person who owned the first handset.

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