In Zimbabwe, state-owned companies play a dominant role in the telecommunications sector. The government owns a significant stake in two of the three mobile service providers, including full ownership of NetOne and 60% of Telecel through Zimbabwe Academic Research and Education Network (ZARNet), a government-owned internet service provider and government agency. In addition, the state owns the only fixed-line service provider, TelOne. As for the main operators of the national network infrastructure, TelOne controls about 24% of the country's bandwidth capacity and about 23% of the revenues generated by the Internet. On the other hand, Powertel, belonging to the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, controlled 4.3% of the country's bandwidth capacity.

It is reported that Zimbabwe does not mandate functional separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, there is an obligation of accounting separation.

The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, according to Section 36 of the Postal and Telecommunications Act, only issues telecommunications licenses to legal entities in which Zimbabwean citizens hold a "controlling interest", directly or indirectly. However, a license may be issued to a legal entity without such a majority shareholding, provided that within a time period set out in the license, one or more such persons acquire a majority shareholding. A "controlling interest" means that any of the following conditions are met: holding a majority of the shares of the entity; the shares represent more than 50% of the share capital of the entity; the shares are worth more than half of the share capital of the entity; or the shares give their holders a majority or a preponderance of votes in the affairs of the entity.
In addition, the Postal and Telecommunications (Licensing, Registration and Certification) Regulations mandate that Public Licensees with foreign shareholding pay initial license fees in USD proportionate to the foreign shareholding percentage (Subitem 12 in second schedule-Part I). This is in contrast to the fixed scheduled initial fees payable by public licensees without foreign shareholding. By implication, the higher the shareholding proportion by foreigners, the higher the initial fees. Furthermore, the Regulations establish two categories for internet service providers in Zimbabwe. Class A is permitted to offer services like international bandwidth sales, VOIP, and video, while Class B is responsible for nationwide Internet provision. Applicants for Class A licenses are required to pay a registration fee of USD 5.5 million, as increased under the 2020 amendment of the Regulations, while the fee for Class B licenses is set at USD 2.75 million. Licenses for cell phone services involve significantly higher costs, with an establishment fee of USD 137.5 million.

Zimbabwe has not appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

Zimbabwe has a telecommunications authority: The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ). However, it is reported that this entity is not fully independent.

Section 8 of the Postal and Telecommunications (Subscriber Registration) Regulations of 2014 stipulates that subscriber information in the telecom sector must not be transferred outside the Republic of Zimbabwe. However, an amendment in 2019 introduced new provisions. According to the revised Section 8, if transferring subscriber information to a foreign host becomes necessary or unavoidable for operational purposes, the service provider must ensure that the data is encrypted to prevent it from being read by the foreign host. The local service provider is required to retain the encryption keys to prevent unauthorised access. Additionally, before entering into any storage arrangement, the service provider must submit a report on data protection measures and hosting agreements to the relevant authority. Furthermore, the service provider must obtain clear, affirmative consent in writing from the subscriber for the transfer of personal data and must not sell, trade, or share the transferred data.
Reports indicate that regulators assert that approvals for data transfers are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Section 3.8 (Content and Applications) of the National ICT Policy 2022–2027 stipulates that the government should ensure that a minimum of 30% of ICT software and applications utilised by government institutions are developed locally, encompassing all national languages. This policy was also articulated in Section 9 (Content) of the National ICT Policy 2016, which has since been superseded by the National ICT Policy 2022–2027.

The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (General) Regulations 2018 (Section 8.2) provides for a margin of preference of up to 15% of the procurement goods and 7.5% of service contracts to domestic suppliers or manufacturers. Within these prescribed limits, preference may be given to bidders that are domestic suppliers or manufacturers, and an extra preference, within the prescribed limits, may be given to women or entities controlled predominantly by women or to Zimbabwean universities or polytechnics.

Zimbabwe is not a party to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA), nor does it have observer status.

According to Art. 7.1 of the Broadcasting Services Act, no person shall provide a broadcasting service or operate as a signal carrier in Zimbabwe except in accordance with a broadcasting licence or a signal carrier licence. A broadcasting licence shall authorise the licensee to provide several classes of broadcasting services, including narrowcasting, datacasting, and webcasting (Art. 7.2). However, pursuant to Art. 8.1, a broadcasting licence shall be issued only to individuals who are citizens of Zimbabwe or to a corporate body in which a controlling interest is held, whether through any individual, company association or otherwise, by one or more individuals who are citizens of Zimbabwe.

According to Section 36 of the Postal and Telecommunications Act, the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority issues telecommunications licenses only to legal entities in which Zimbabwean citizens hold a "controlling interest", directly or indirectly. However, a license may be issued to a legal entity without such a majority shareholding, provided that within a period set out in the license, one or more such persons acquire a majority shareholding. As established in the same article, a "controlling interest" in a legal entity means that any of the following conditions are met: holding a majority of the shares of the entity; the shares represent more than 50% of the share capital of the entity; the shares are worth more than 50% of the share capital of the entity; or the shares give their holders a majority or a preponderance of votes in the affairs of the entity.

Zimbabwe screens FDI through the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) in liaison with relevant line ministries to confirm compliance with the country’s laws. Section 3 of Act No. 10/2019 establishes the ZIDA as a legal person. The government created the ZIDA to oversee the licensing and implementation of investment projects in the country. Part V of Act No. 10/2019 provides investors with the ability to obtain investment licences. ZIDA has established a one-stop investment services centre (OSISC, section 5 of the Act), which houses several agencies that play a role in the licensing, establishment, and implementation of investment projects.

Zimbabwe is a party to the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).