Here is a thread for all news on the ICT development news within Tanzania, pls lets share the news on the vibrant IT sector

News
Techno Brain Expands African Presence, Opens New Office in Rwanda

Kigali, Rwanda, February 2012: Techno Brain, Africa’s leading Software Development Company is expanding its operations to Central and Eastern Africa by opening new office in Rwanda. An ISO 9001:2008 Certified company with operations in 8 African countries including Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa and Mozambique and India, USA, UK and UAE provides IT Solutions, IT Training and BPO Services to Governments, NGOs and Private sector organizations globally.

Manoj Shanker, CEO, Techno Brain Group, stated, “With Rwanda making significant gains in growing as service driven economy of the region and also making ICT as key priority area , it is our obvious choice to set up our operations here. To offer effective IT Solutions to clients in Rwanda and help them in achieving their strategic goals, Techno Brain is launching its office in Rwanda”. He also added, “The opening of our new office in Rwanda not only extends our local presence in Africa but also demonstrates our commitment to serve our existing customers & partners and build new relationships in the Central and Eastern African region.”

“We are thrilled to have set up a full-fledged office in Rwanda. With a more strengthened local Rwandan leadership team, Techno Brain will be able to provide additional and speedy support to the customers with faster deployment times. Techno Brain would strive to enable organizations in Rwanda to provide more citizens centric services with robust, enhanced and technology rich solutions that would help them to meet their business needs and achieve better customer satisfaction”, said Don Godfrey, Business Development Manager, Techno Brain Rwanda.
http://www.technobraingroup.com/newsroom/2012/techno-brain-opens-office-in-Rwanda.aspx

Techno Brain to open its new Development Center at Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya, November, 2011: Techno Brain, Africa's leading ICT Solutions, IT Training and BPO Services provider and a CMMI Level 3 and ISO 9001: 2008 Certified Company with operations in India and USA, announced today that it will be launching its first state-of-the-art Research & Development (R&D) Center at Nairobi, Kenya. This will also be the first such unit for Techno Brain in Africa.

Manoj Shanker, CEO, Techno Brain Group said, "This is a major milestone for an African company like Techno Brain which reflects our commitment and dedication to serve the African and global market with industry best IT solutions and products. R & D center at Kenya will help the organization to establish itself and provide more improved services to our clients and customers." He also added, “This decision of opening a new R & D Center was influenced by the growing need for a faster response and effective services. Kenya was chosen because of its suitable location and availability of highly qualified professional pool.”

“Our new facility will comprise of fully equipped IT Infrastructure, matured IT Services, improved Solutions and experienced talent pool that will enable businesses to meet their business challenges more effectively and in less time. We will now be able to provide our customers higher levels of service and help them in reducing and simplifying their complexities in organizational affairs. This center will also help us in bridging the gap between local and global markets”, said, Anand Mohan, Techno Brain India CEO.

Charles Mwangi, General Manager, Techno Brain Kenya Development Center commented, “With this new center we plan to encourage young and fresh local talent from East African countries by training them in latest, advanced and industry best IT Career Courses, Certification Programs, etc. and provide employment opportunities. We believe that innovation is a key driver for a company to develop and have sustainable growth which can be achieved by honing the young talent and helping them to innovate at work with their fresh ideas.”

An important role of this R&D Center will be to respond to the increasing demand from the local as well as global markets for quality and cost effective services that help businesses to reduce development cost and faster turnaround time.
http://www.technobraingroup.com/newsroom/2011/techno-brain-to-launch-its-new-software-development-center-in-kenya.aspx

^^ Great news.I dont understand why you would post ICT news regarding Rwanda and Kenya here.Post it on the proper thread or forum for that matter! :)

investment of Tanzanian company in Rwanda and Kenya...!

:lol:

Okay.

going regional...!

18th March 12
Malawi keen on submarine cable connection with Tanzania
Beatrice Philemon

Malawi Government intends to connect submarine cables from Tanzania to Malawi so that residents of the neighbouring country can get affordable and accessible ICT as well as boost internet services.

This follows meetings between Patricia Kaliati, Malawi Minister for Information and Civic Education and her host Prof Makame Mbarawa, Minister for Communication, Science and Technology,

Kaliati also consulted with TCRA management and TTCL management to learn from them Tanzania’s experience in ICT so as to introduce the same in her country. The Malawian minister has been in the country for five days.

“We are here today to see what you have already done, you are really doing a lot, and we are here with the purpose of recognising, getting advice from what you have done and learning from your technical expertise because we are expecting to construct the ICT broadband backbone in Malawi in the near future,” she told The Guardian on Sunday yesterday.

The Malawian minister said the World Bank has given her country funds to connect submarine cables with Tanzania. “Thank you very much for your support and entire government for welcoming us to Tanzania to achieve our mission target on international connectivity to submarine cables,” she said.

According to the minister, Malawi plans to build its own ICT broadband fibre to get best services. She noted that such moves would reduce the cost of internet, saying Tanzania is their first choice and she recognises the high quality of the National ICT Broadband Backbone.

On his part, Prof Makame Mbarawa said the national ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB) project is a bold step by the Tanzanian government to connect all regions and districts to access the 10,000 km long national and regional broadband infrastructure as well as the sea cable landing on its shores.

The National ICT broadband Backbone has been built using Optical fibre technology. The technology is not only resilient to bad weather but also possesses better characteristics such as its high bandwidth capacity, compactness, low transmission losses, and high signal security.

Others include immunity to interference and cross-talk, system reliability and ease of maintenance which are among the most important. It is much more efficient and reliable for communication use over satellite-based communications.

Mbarawa said financial resources to implement Phase 1 and Phase 11 of the NICTBB project were Sh30bn from the government’s development budget, $170m being a concessional loan from the Chinese government and $100m generated from NICTBB operations.

Other financial resources valued at $80m are expected from public –private partnership arrangements with the existing service providers in the sector.

The funds are earmarked for rolling out a national duct system and metro networks within major cities and urban centres as well as the fibre-optic links that are not contracted with Phases 1 and Phase 11 of the project.

He said the project implementation was effectively launched on February 1, 2009 and by June, 2010 Phases 1 was completed with a 4,300 km of fibre backbone operational.

Phase 11 became effective from August 1, 2010 and to date. The construction of 3,000 km of fibre backbone and installation of transmission and power equipment is complete awaiting Provisional Acceptance Tests (PAT) planned to commence in April, 2012.

He noted that Tanzania has experienced a revolution in the communication sector which has to unprecedented growth in the use of ICT over the past decade, with mobile telephony registering the biggest growth.
GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/fun...le.php?l=39583

Kenya Pushes for Expansion of Back-Up Internet Links After Cuts
By Sarah McGregor on March 15, 2012

Kenya wants to install more back-up telecommunications cables so Internet providers can re-route traffic if the main network goes down, said Bitange Ndemo, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Communications.

Parts of Kenya lost Internet capacity after a construction company yesterday accidentally severed a data cable along Mombasa Road. That followed outages last month after a ship cut the East African Submarine System cable that serves east and southern African nations. It is owned by a group of investors that includes MTN Group Ltd. (MTN) and Vodacom Group Ltd. (VOD)

“Even with the negligence of cable cuts by ships, we are taking steps to ensure there are more redundancies and a seamless re-routing when these cuts happen,” Ndemo said today in an interview in Nairobi, the capital. Alternate routes may involve laying down a ring of fibre-optic cable in the port city of Mombasa and a new line through neighboring Tanzania, he said.

The number of Internet users in Kenya jumped to 14.3 million in September, from 12.5 million in June, boosted by increased use of mobile phones, according to the Communications Commission of Kenya.

About 36 percent of citizens had access to the Internet in September, compared with 32 percent in June, the commission said.

Safaricom Ltd. (SAFCOM), East Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator, has market share of 68 percent, followed by Airtel Networks Kenya Ltd., controlled by Delhi-baed Bharti Airtel Ltd. (BHARTI) with 16 percent. Telkom Kenya Ltd. has 10 percent of customers and Essar Telecom Kenya Ltd., unit of Essar Group (ESSR) of India 6.2 percent, it said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sarah McGregor in Nairobi at smcgregor5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
http://www.businessweek.com/printer/...type=bloomberg

going regional...!

:lol:

Indeed!Still wrong forum.

Tanzania to spend $189m on fibre optic network
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Tanzania will spend over $189 million on laying the national fibre optic network, which is expected to be complete by March this year, boosting access to and lowering cost of Internet.

Minister for Communication Science and Technology Professor Makame Mbarawa says the project is financed jointly by China and Tanzania, with the former dishing out over $170 million and the latter $18 million.

Professor Mbarawa said that the Exim Bank of China has provided the government with a concession loan for phase one and two of the project.

According to Prof Mbarawa the plan is to connect the whole country, with the cable reaching each district before the end of 2012.

“Over 10,000km will be connected by March this year and the government plans to expand to all regions in the country,” he said.

Phase one and two of the project will cover 7000km and already there exists 3,674km of national optic fibre cable in the Country.

Therefore, the National ICT Backbone Project when completed will cover a distance of 10,674km.

According to the government construction work commenced on the central part of the Country and then moved towards the borders of the Western neighbouring countries of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.

All administrative regional and district centres within Tanzania should be connected to the backbone project.

Phase one of the project has already been carried out, with 19 regions and 59 districts already connected, while the remaining Lindi,Ruvuma, Kigoma, Rukwa, and Mbeya will be covered in the next phase.

The government said that upon its completion, the project will open up more doors for computer users.

ICT development and advancement have a positive correlation. Where there is ICT infrastructure, established structures and unconditional and reliable accessibility then automatically there is social, cultural and economic development.

ICT can therefore be a tool for achieving sustainable development, which comprises economic development, social development and environmental protection.

In this context, ICT will undoubtedly accelerate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

According to Dr Iddi Singo, the government is committed to the promotion of information and communication technology IT application in various fields including e-learning at deferent levels of education.Dr Singo said that once the project is completed the government will from the next financial year set aside a budget for the implementation of the Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow TBT project in which through IT a teacher can teach many students in various regions at a time.
This will, to a large extent, reduce the problem of teachers’ shortage that has been facing the country for decades since independence.
http://www.eastafricanewspost.com/in...-optic-network

Tanzanian mobile phone users to hit 36m by 2015 Send to a friend
Monday, 25 July 2011 22:46
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http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/images/stories/mobile%20in%20tz.jpg
Maasai men use mobile phones. The telecom industry is expected to grow as operators are penetrating to rural areas where the majority of Tanzanians live . PHOTO | FILE
By Al-amani Mutarubukwa
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. The number of mobile subscribers in the country is expected to hit 36.6 million in the next four years.
According to Business Monitor International’s report, the industry is expected to grow at a penetration rate of more than 70 per cent by 2015. BMI attributes this to the impact of the recently heated tariff wars among the operators in a bid to boost subscriber growth.

There are seven telecom companies operating in the country namely; Vodacom, Airtel, Tigo, Zantel, TTCL, Sasatel and Benson Informatics. Data from the telecoms regulator, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, indicates that the country had 20.983 million mobile subscribers at the end of December 2010.

This represented an annual growth rate of 21.5 per cent and mobile penetration of 46.6 per cent.Researches indicate that increasing penetration rate of telecommunication services by 10 per cent pushes a country’s gross domestic product up by 1.2 per cent.

However, industry analysts warn that the war may end up discouraging future investments in the once fastest-growing industry as well as lead to poor services to subscribers due to network congestion. Tanzania's mobile market experienced relatively fast growth in Q210 and Q310, with net additions of 1.731 million and 1.278 million subscribers respectively.

However, market growth in Q110 and Q410 were more tempered, with net additions of just 312,000 and 386,000 subscribers respectively.Price wars, which began with Sh1 per second tariff almost four years ago, were rekindled late last year with at least three operators dropping their tariffs to less than Sh0.5 per second.

“Value-added services (VAS) and network coverage and quality is expected to play key roles in competition for subscribers as operators begin to rein in tariff cuts amid lower revenue intakes,” the report reads in part.Mobile data and mobile payment are the main forms of VAS in the market.The launch of mobile TV services in May 2011 by Vodacom added a new dimension to VAS offerings.
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/business/13-local-business/13143-tanzanian-mobile-phone-users-to-hit-36m-by-2015.html

Special report:Tanzania takes seventh place in African telecoms, report reveals Send to a friend
Saturday, 15 October 2011 21:32
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/images/stories/phone%20tower.jpg
A mobile phone tower. Mobile phone companies have invested trillions of US dollars to build telecoms infrastructure in African markets. PHOTO | FILE
By The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has been listed among the top African markets that have recently attracted huge investments in telecommunications infrastructure, especially the mobile telephony subsector.The ventures are helping to finance the upgrading of GSM networks, installation of latest technologies, such as 3G, and laying down basic fibre optic cables.

According to recently released World Bank statistics, 10 countries, including Tanzania, received telecoms financing capital amounting to $42.3 trillion (about Sh67, 680 trillion at the current exchange rate) between 1998 and 2008.

The investments have surged tremendously as subscribers relentlessly pursue feature-ridden, high-quality, and low delay services from mostly mobile operators.According to consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan, the sub-Saharan Africa mobile network backhaul infrastructure market spent $355 million in 2009, a figure expected to go up to $1.45 billion in 2015.

“The explosion of tablets and smartphones on the scene makes more demands and operators are struggling to cope with demands for increasing bandwidth across a limited spectrum. Landing of undersea cables and deployment of 3G and 4G technologies in various African countries is only going to exacerbate the increasing demand for data services,” reads part of the recently-released Africa Mobile Report 2011.

For its part, Facebook statistics tracker Socialbakers, notes there were around 10.5 million Facebook users in Africa in 2010. Mobile broadband subscribers in Africa -- users of data cards and USB devices via cellular 3G networks – crossed three million in September 2009 and were expected to break the four million milestone in the first quarter of 2010.

Industry estimates show that there are currently more than 500 million mobile phone subscribers in Africa, up from 246 million in 2008. By March this year, slightly over 21 million of these were in Tanzania.

In 2000, the number of mobile phones in Africa first exceeded that of fixed telephones. In Tanzania, that happened the following year when the number of mobile phone users reached 275,557 from the 2000 level of 110,518 against the fixed line figures of 177,802 and 173,591, respectively.

The four biggest mobile phone markets in the continent are Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana. Strategic investors in Africa’s mobile industry include South Africa’s MTN, India’s Bharti Airtel, France Telecom (via its Orange brand), Britain’s Vodafone and Luxembourg’s Millicom, which trades as Tigo.

The World Bank figures in the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic document rank Tanzania seventh in attracting telecoms investments with $1.4 trillion (about Sh2, 240 trillion) injected mostly in the mobile telephony subsector between 1998 and 2008. The pack is led by South Africa, which attracted $18.1 trillion, followed by Nigeria and Kenya with $12.7 trillion and $2.9 trillion respectively.

The other African markets, which have attracted huge telecoms investments are Sudan ($1.8-trillion), Uganda ($1.6-trillion), Senegal ($1.5-trillion), DR Congo ($1.2-trillion), Ghana ($1.1-trillion), and Angola ($1-trillion).

“Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been a remarkable success in Africa. Across the continent, the availability and quality of service have gone up and the cost has gone down. In just 10 years—dating from the end of the 1990s—mobile network coverage rose from 16 per cent to 90 per cent of the urban population,” the World Bank states.

According to it, most of the investments come from Chinese companies, although a number of European companies are also involved. Experts argue that although mobile prices in Sub-Saharan Africa have fallen considerably, scope can be found for further price reductions, which will benefit customers and bring mobile services within reach of more people.

They also note that although most mobile customers seem to be satisfied with the overall quality of service, dissatisfaction has grown as the number of subscribers has grown and the networks have become more congested.
Tanzania's mobile phone subscribers have increased by over 20 million in nine years and rose by 20 per cent last year alone, but low tariffs due to a vicious price war are said to be deterring new investments in the sector.

The sector is currently dominated by seven operators whose fierce fighting for the share of the lucrative market has forced them to lower tariffs to the benefit of the consumers. That, with the cheapening of handsets largely due to technology advancement, has led to the country’s subscriber base ballooning to 21.2 million users at the end of March from less than 3,000 in 1995.

It was recently reported that mobile phone companies invested more than Sh2 trillion (about $1.23 billion) in cellular networks and other fixed assets between 2004 and 2009 in one of the fastest-growing sectors in Tanzania. According to statistics of sectoral regulator Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), that level of investment declined to Sh511 billion in 2009 from Sh682 billion shillings a year earlier.

"Tanzania rates are now among the lowest in the region and continent. Although low tariffs are supposed to be good for consumers, high levels of network congestion leads to a decline in quality of service," a senior official at Zantel, a unit of United Arab Emirates' telecoms operator Etisalat, told Reuters in August.
"Investment in the industry has also declined due to the crush in tariffs below cost... Investment in telecoms will continue to be depressed as long as tariffs are below cost of providing the service."

According to the latest figures of the TCRA, Vodacom Tanzania was by March this year accounting for the lion’s share of the mobile market with a 43 per cent stake, which was an increase of one percentage point over its October – December 2010 quarter share. Its subscriber base increased to nine million customers from about 8.6 million during the two periods.

Last month, the company announced that the number of subscribers on its network had reached 10 million. The company said in a statement after the attainment of the milestone that in addition to outstanding voice and data solutions, one of the differentiating products that have helped to drive the achievement had been the M-Pesa money transfer service.

“Since its launch in 2008, M-Pesa has played an instrumental role in changing the way money is sent, saved, and used to buy daily needs, by Vodacom customers across the country. Over the last three years, the M-Pesa mobile money solution has become ingrained in the lives of Vodacom customers,” the company noted in the statement.
Now the service has two million customers, who are served through a network of 10,000 agents. In June, outgoing managing director Dietlof Mare said Vodacom's investment in Tanzania had reached $2 billion, and he expected that amount to increase with continued expansion.

"We understand the importance of people communicating, especially in rural areas," he noted. "For this reason, we will continue expanding our network and cover the whole country."

The second largest player after Vodacom is Airtel, which by March this year had the market share of 28 per cent, which was the same rate at the end of December 2010. The company, which last year was trading as Zain before being acquired by Indian investors, saw the number of its customers dropping to 5,927,417 from 6,021,091 during the two periods. Late last year, India’s Bharti Airtel announced new strategies aimed at expanding its network reach and increasing its market penetration.

To achieve that, the company signed agreements with telecommunications infrastructure suppliers Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks to extend its networks to areas that were underserved.

“We are aiming to increase our subscriber base by 150 per cent by 2013 to 100 million customers across Africa. That growth will stimulate economies and create thousands of direct jobs and connect communities,” managing director Sam Elangalloor told a press conference in Dar es Salaam in November.

The other players in the Tanzania mobile market are Tigo, which had a market share of 21 per cent by March, Zantel (eight per cent), TTCL Mobile (one per cent), Sasatel (0.12 per cent) and Benson Informatics (0.01 per cent). According to the TCRA figures, the sectoral average revenue per user (ARPU) fell to Sh4, 801 in the first quarter of this year from Sh5, 849 during the fourth quarter of last year. Mobile phone penetration in Tanzania stood at 47 percent last year, the regulator said. The telecoms regulator sees the next frontier for investment as fourth-generation (4G) technologies and number portability.

“Institutional reform has driven this radical change in telecommunications. Markets have been liberalised, and regulatory bodies have been established. The resulting increase in competition has spurred investment and dramatic reductions in prices,” the authors of the Africa’s ICT Infrastructure: Building on the Mobile Revolution report further note.

“The speed at which the sector has evolved, the nature of the policy changes that have triggered the reforms, and the way in which investment has been financed all make telecommunications unique among the infrastructure sectors in Africa,” they add.

However, the report cautions that despite the successes of recent years, several major challenges remain for policy makers. The first of these challenges is to continue the expansion of the mobile networks, bringing basic voice services to as much of the population as possible.

http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/images/stories/06bank.jpg
Customers inside a bank hall. Banks are increasingly recognising the potential of reaching millions of prospective customers using mobile phone.
Demand for mobile payment offer African banks huge trade potential
By The Citizen Reporter & Agencies
Dar es Salaam. Mobile-savvy consumers in Africa want to do more for their phones and that presents huge commercial and business opportunities for the continent’s banks and their merchant partners, a new report titled: Mobile Africa Report 2011 has said.

According to the African Development Bank, there were fewer than two million mobile phone users in the continent 13 years ago. The number grew to over 400 million in 2009.

In Tanzania, official figures show that mobile users increased from about 36,000 in 1998 to 21.2 million at the end of March this year. The number is projected to reach 36.6 million by 2015.

“Banks and other providers now recognise the potential of reaching millions of prospective customers, especially the rural population who account for more than 60 per cent of Africa’s total population and have no access to banking services,” authors of the report note.

“An increasing number of banks and financial institutions are using mobile advertising to share information and promote services. As financial institutions embrace mobile as a distinct channel - not just a supplement to PC banking - their number-one challenge is the same as they faced when first rolling out online banking: consumer confidence,” they add.

In countries such as Kenya, or South Africa, research indicates that users have a higher propensity to make e-commerce and m-commerce transactions with 46 per cent of Kenyan and 43 per cent of South African users having made remote purchases via mobile Internet, fixed Internet and telephone respectively. The most popular items for remote purchases are downloads and virtual gifts, with 25.99 per cent of South Africans and 30.13 per cent of Kenyan’s polled in a recent survey having purchased these items.

With a successful mobile banking platform and an effective education, more awareness can lead to greater demand for m-commerce services. Other m-commerce services on African users’ wish-lists include buying tickets (movies, transport), buying groceries and paying restaurant bills.

Experts argue that this provides many opportunities for banks to partner with merchants such as cinema operators, supermarket chains and even fast food or restaurant outlets.

In South Africa, Standard Chartered allows consumers to use their phones to check their bank account balance, manage credit cards or loans, pay bills, transfer money between accounts and more. However consumers are often required to register first from a PC before being able to bank with a phone.

“When done correctly, mobile banking can create and grow new markets, enabling consumers in a variety of settings to save money and pay bills and in the process create value in communities.”

Four years ago, mobile operator Safaricom launched M-Pesa in Kenya. The mobile company, which introduced the first mobile payment scheme in Africa on March 6, 2007, has since witnessed this service being introduced in several African countries by other mobile operators, including its competitors in Kenya.

Mobile payment services have now been launched in South Africa, Madagascar, Uganda, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Tanzania. By early this year M-Pesa in Kenya was used by 10 million people around the country and had transferred Ksh135.38 billion ($1.8 billion) representing about five per cent of GDP.

In Tanzania, M-Pesa, which was launched in 2008, has over two million customers, who are served through a network of 10,000 agents.

“Since its launch in 2008, M-Pesa has played an instrumental role in changing the way money is sent, saved, and used to buy daily needs, by Vodacom customers across the country. Over the last three years, the M-Pesa mobile money solution has become ingrained in the lives of Vodacom customers,” Vodacom Tanzania said last month in a statement when announcing that it now has 10 million mobile phone users.

“The key to M-Pesa’s success, in Kenya and a growing number of countries, is the African love affair with the cell phone. Sometime in 2011, the continent will cross a threshold of mobile phone use, with one mobile phone for every African adult,” reads a part of the mobile report.

According to research firm Juniper, the number of active users of mobile money services in the world is predicted to double in the next two years, exceeding 200 million by 2013. Nearly 40 per cent active users in 2015 are estimated be in the Africa & Middle East region.

“Consumers in Africa are looking for a robust e-commerce solution that delivers security, accessibility, acceptance, ability and a global reach,” says Mr Manoj Kohil, Airtel chief executive officer and joint managing director.

Currently it is estimated that Africa has close to 500 million mobile phone users and an unbanked population of 230 million households. It is expected that by 2014, Africa will see 56 per cent mobile penetration. But East African banks are proving slow to embrace the Internet, and systems that take mobile e-commerce payments, reported Kenya’s leading software developers at the recent AITEC Banking and Mobile Money Conference in Nairobi.

Cell phone penetration is estimated at 98 percent in South Africa. According to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) mobile phone penetration in Tanzania stood at 47 per cent last year

“Interestingly, in Africa, some consumers might not have shoes, but they have a cell phone,” according to Mr Brian Richardson, a former banker and founder of mobile payment services firm Wizzit of South Africa.

By the end of 2008, the company had an estimated 250,000 customers in South Africa, and today it has two million customers across Africa and Europe. Customers can use their cell phones for such functions as viewing bank statements, sending money and paying bills, all with low transaction fees. Mobile banking is an example of cell phones being used in innovative ways to bypass the gaps in traditional infrastructure in Africa — in this case the shortage of bricks-and mortar banks in rural areas, and lack of Internet access.

“It’s very difficult to build a sustainable, viable economy when the bulk of your population is unbanked. There is the equivalent of $2 billion under mattresses in South Africa at any time. If even a portion of that was in banks, it would have a huge impact on the economy,” Mr Richardson argues.

The Johannesburg-based company has since expanded into Zambia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Romania, and plans to launch in three more African countries, with talk of expanding into other major emerging markets.

According to a 2009 survey by the World Bank’s Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, about 2.7 billion people globally do not have banking services. Access to banking can help people to lift themselves out of poverty by providing ways to save money and make payments without having to travel.

Number of Tanzania Internet users is 5m Send to a friend
Tuesday, 03 January 2012 21:10
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By Ludger Kasumuni
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania, with an estimate population of 42 million people, now has 11 per cent of Internet users, according to the latest report issued by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

The report shows that as of October 2010, around 4.8 million Tanzanians had access to the Internet up from 1.6 million users in 2005. Out of the current figure, 2,663,200 were institutional users, 1,932,816 were households or individual users and 260,280 Internet café users.

In East Africa, in terms of Internet usage, Kenya is ahead of the other member states with 10.2 million users as at 2010, while Uganda had 4.1 million users by the same year. This is according to the Kenya Communication Commission and Uganda Communication Commission data respectively.

According to a research funded by TCRA, the number of Tanzanians using the internet for communication purposes has been on the rise, particularly as wireless facilities get cheaper with incoming mobile phone handsets.

Currently, official figures of mobile phone subscribers stand at 19 million.
“Mobile wireless is leading by 45 per cent, followed by fixed wireless. The Internet usage is now becoming a popular means of communication option next to voice telephone for many people in Tanzania,” reads part of the report.

Figures released by TCRA show that the country has 2,206,480 mobile wireless internet users, 1,514,580 users of fixed wireless and 471,524 users of VSAT, 388,176 users of other broadband and 269,536 cable users.

The summary of TCRA findings indicates that out of 68 application services licencees only 46 (67 per cent) were found operating, 20 of them (30per cent) could not be traced and two or three per cent were not operating. Out of 46 operational licences, only 38 (83 per cent) of them provide internet services, the rest provide other services like voice network design, data (SMS and MMS), website hosting and website designing, according to the findings
http://thecitizen.co.tz/business/13-local-business/18518-number-of-tanzania-internet-users-is-5m.html

Fibre-optic cable to turn Tanzania into ICT hub
Monday, 19 March 2012 10:01

By Polycarp Machira, The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania is geared towards becoming an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) hub when the reliability of the international infrastructural connectivity is assured.

Currently the country continues to address the enabling factors which include expansion of the national ICT backbone infrastructure, more landing points for the submarine fibre-optic cables, human resource development and pro-ICT policies.

The project is a bold step taken by the government to connect all regions and districts so that they have access to the 10,000 kilometre national and regional broadband infrastructure as well as sea cables.

This was said by the minister for Communication, Science and Technology, Prof Makame Mbarawa, at the international broadband fibre connectivity meeting between Tanzania and Malawi on Saturday.

The Malawi delegation led by the minister for Information and Civil Education, Mrs Patricia Kaliati, envisioned a link to international connectivity through sub-marine cables.

It is also implementing a $100 million Regional Communication Infrastructure Project (RCIP-TZ) to deliver connectivity to local and central government departments, which upon completion would increase technological network in its systems.

At least $60 million from this project will help deliver an e-Government Network (eGovNet). Several centralised applications and international bandwidth from undersea cables have already landed in the country.

According to the minister, the Universal Communications Access Fund (UCAF) has access to $30 million from RCIP-TZ project resources to deliver services to remote, rural and underserved areas, including shared access to community information centres (CICs) or telecentres and villages to ensure communication for all.

“The government of Tanzania is encouraging partnership and collaboration with more operators from Malawi, which also have a similar project, RCIP-Malawi) said the minister.

Prof Mbarawa explained that Tanzania has experienced a tremendous revolution in the communication sector which led to unprecedented growth in the use of ICTs over the past decade.

According to the minister the change is due to fast changing technologies in the global ICT industry, adding that the biggest has been in the mobile telephony.

He said: “With limited ICT backbone infrastructure mobile telephony has always been a technology of choice to both users and network operators.”

It resulted into a growth of mobile phone users from less than 100,000 users in the late 1990s to 20 million users in December 2010, being about 50 percent teledensity and contributing about 25 percent to the national GDP.

The minister said the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB) already connected to two major submarine cables of SEACOM (July, 2009) and EASSY (April, 2010) extends connectivity to the neighbouring countries.

The virtual landing stations of the submarine cables through NICTBB have been established at the respective cross-border points.The Malawian minister who visited SEACOM, Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) and the Tanzania Telecommunication offices praised the country for serious steps taken to improve ICT in the country.

“It is really amazing to see how fast things are moving in Tanzania, and plans to increase connectivity,” she said.
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/business/-/20764-fibre-optic-cable-to-turn-tanzania-into-ict-hub

Home » Business » Tanzania Answers To Konza Technology City With “Raphta City”
Tanzania Answers To Konza Technology City With “Raphta City”
Posted In Business - By robertalai On Tuesday, April 19th, 2011 With 2 Comments

In February, we reported that Konza Technology City’s funding was approved by the Kenyan government. Now Tanzanians don’t want to be left behind. The Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), SEACOM and a group of local and international investors are formalizing a public-private partnership (PPP) agreement to jointly develop an ICT park in Dar es Salaam.

http://www.techmtaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/New-ICT-Park-at-Konza.jpg

The park will be named Raphta City will help in facilitating innovation while creating quality jobs and modernizing the region’s ICT landscape.

COSTECH Director General, Dr Hassan Mshinda, claims that the park will be the first ‘smart village’ geographic cluster of its kind in East Africa and completely ignoring the fact that Kenya is developing such a village. Anyway, we are really waiting for who will be the first to develope the ICT Park.

Raphta City will be enabled by high speed broadband access and high end ICT infrastructure. The group say that the the name Rhapta City comes from an ancient trading centre believed to have been located where Dar es Salaam stands today. The ground breaking is expected in mid-2011. The park will host ICT small and medium enterprises (SMEs), established multinationals, IT services, business process outsourcing (BPO) call centres, online education, community public space, and an incubation centre for innovation hosted by COSTECH according to the statement.
http://www.techmtaa.com/2011/04/19/tanzania-answers-to-konza-technology-city-with-raphta-city/

Tanzanian operators growing frustrated with government

Tanzanian telecommunications operators are becoming frustrated with the government’s inability to crack down on fiber optic cable vandalism.

Tanzania's Minister of Communications Prof. Makame Mbarawa. (image: file)

Peter Phillip, an engineer at the ministry of communications told ITNewsAfrica.com “ they are looking at alternative solutions to protecting the cable lines, such as putting them under the ground better and covering them with concrete”.

Phillips believes the police need to improve their response to reports of criminals digging up the lines.

“It is a difficult job to stop criminal activity in remote areas, but we think that through a better response from police when cables are ruptured or stolen, we may be able to arrest and put on trial the criminals, which would be a big deterrent,” he said.

Tanzania recently started laying down a 10 674 kilometre land fiber-optic backbone cable connecting Seacom, Eassy and TEAMS undersea cables on Africa’s east coast to Dar es Salaam.

Joseph Mayton
http://www.itnewsafrica.com/2012/03/tanzanian-operators-growing-frustrated-with-government/

Interesting thread....

http://www.ist-africa.org/conference2012/images/advprog.jpg

Lets meet there...

http://www.ist-africa.org/conference2012/

Our state house (Ikulu) doesnt have a website

Our parliaments website is more like a something designed by a kindergarten...no any valuamble info or bills

Our MP's are pretty much anti technology

Our state house uses YAHOO as their means of e-mail contact

Our internet is one of the slowest in Africa (even though they keep banging on SEACOM superfast broadband

Our technology minister isnt tech savy and still stuck in with the 1940's ideas

The same applies to our media and others

in short like in many other sectors, WE ARE NOT SERIOUS na ukilalamika utaambiwa si mzalendo au Mkenya au sijui kabila gani

Ukweli ndio huo japo unauma

Our state house (Ikulu) doesnt have a website

Our parliaments website is more like a something designed by a kindergarten...no any valuamble info or bills

Our MP's are pretty much anti technology

Our state house uses YAHOO as their means of e-mail contact

Our internet is one of the slowest in Africa (even though they keep banging on SEACOM superfast broadband

Our technology minister isnt tech savy and still stuck in with the 1940's ideas

The same applies to our media and others

in short like in many other sectors, WE ARE NOT SERIOUS na ukilalamika utaambiwa si mzalendo au Mkenya au sijui kabila gani

Ukweli ndio huo japo unauma
At this rate you will get more enemies than friends. Patriotism is Tanzanians second name.

At this rate you will get more enemies than friends. Patriotism is Tanzanians second name.

He should also be aware a ship destroyed a sea cable in Mombasa and the problem is not only in Tanzania but even in Kenya!

Our state house (Ikulu) doesnt have a website

Our parliaments website is more like a something designed by a kindergarten...no any valuamble info or bills

Our MP's are pretty much anti technology

Our state house uses YAHOO as their means of e-mail contact

Our internet is one of the slowest in Africa (even though they keep banging on SEACOM superfast broadband

Our technology minister isnt tech savy and still stuck in with the 1940's ideas

The same applies to our media and others

in short like in many other sectors, WE ARE NOT SERIOUS na ukilalamika utaambiwa si mzalendo au Mkenya au sijui kabila gani

Ukweli ndio huo japo unauma

mambo yote bado yapo kwenye mchakato!!!

Patience Mwinyi, patience..yes the ICT is not yet developed but rmbr the govt has a lot in its hand, and i observe that there are trying their best in ICT but need more capital which isnt available because ICT is a trivial matter..lets focus on poverty reduction, infrastructure devp, social services availability in rural areas etc ICT will come in later when peoples lives are at least better than yesterday.

Patience Mwinyi, patience..yes the ICT is not yet developed but rmbr the govt has a lot in its hand, and i observe that there are trying their best in ICT but need more capital which isnt available because ICT is a trivial matter..lets focus on poverty reduction, infrastructure devp, social services availability in rural areas etc ICT will come in later when peoples lives are at least better than yesterday.

50 years of patience and rewarding incompetence hasnt got us anywhere

bad enough we are using same methods we used to cause problems to solve problems

im very frustrated with Tanzania

At this rate you will get more enemies than friends. Patriotism is Tanzanians second name.

He is not Tanzanian! he/she is Kenyan and for long we have said it. he/she poses as Tanzanian. We do not know who he/she is along with Soulrebel and his friends or his/her fake names. we have I identification thread "with photo".

He is not Tanzanian! he/she is Kenyan and for long we have said it. he/she poses as Tanzanian. We do not know who he/she is along with Soulrebel and his friends or his/her fake names. we have I identification thread "with photo".

So how is a photo going to prove the nationality of someone? Dude, you are either plain stupid, uneducated or an educated chimpanzee :lol:

So how is a photo going to prove the nationality of someone? Dude, you are either plain stupid, uneducated or an educated chimpanzee :lol:
They want to know who is anti Jamhuri. They are the shining beacon of Democracy in Africa so they say.
For others to have divergent views they must be Kenyans.

Interesting thread....

http://www.ist-africa.org/conference2012/images/advprog.jpg

Lets meet there...

http://www.ist-africa.org/conference2012/

Guys stop derailing this great thread and lets be civil for once...:ohno:

I once again invite you to this conference i will be presenting a paper on one of the panel/track.

I will be talking about the role of Cognitive Radio and Dynamic Spectrum Access technologies over Television White Spaces (TVWS) in bridging of the digital divide in rural Africa.

simple google search found this:

http://www.jamiiforums.com/jukwaa-la-siasa/170168-wasiotaka-ikulu-iwe-na-website-hawa-hapa.html

Research, research, and more research .....we will get there:)

Guys stop derailing this great thread and lets be civil for once...:ohno:

I once again invite you to this conference i will be presenting a paper on one of the panel/track.

I will be talking about the role of Cognitive Radio and Dynamic Spectrum Access technologies over Television White Spaces (TVWS) in bridging of the digital divide in rural Africa.

Interesting, if i was in Dar I would have certainly visited.

I got tired of reading senseless Kenya v Tanzania fights, im now onto France v UK, next up USA v China.

Guys stop derailing this great thread and lets be civil for once...:ohno:

I once again invite you to this conference i will be presenting a paper on one of the panel/track.

I will be talking about the role of Cognitive Radio and Dynamic Spectrum Access technologies over Television White Spaces (TVWS) in bridging of the digital divide in rural Africa.

:cheers: fanya mambo mkuu:banana:

:cheers: fanya mambo mkuu:banana:

:)

Interesting, if i was in Dar I would have certainly visited.

We will meet next time...:cheers:

This is the official Tanzania statehouse e-mail contact:
mawasilianoikulu@yahoo.com

and this is the official Tanzania statehouse website:
mawasilianoikulu.blogspot.com

this is a country of 45 million
70% are under the age of 30

the average age of its political and decision makers elites are above 50

either way we are fucked!

Logo_post_b
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Tata Communications Plans African Expansion, Business Day Says
By Jana Marais - Mar 26, 2012

Tata Communications Ltd. (TCOM) plans to expand its operations in Kenya, Tanzania and southern Africa and will seek partnerships with domestic companies to build infrastructure, Business Day reported.

Tata will use its Neotel unit in South Africa to expand in the region, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said, citing Chief Executive Officer Vinod Kumar. Neotel posted its first full-year profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization since it began operations five years ago, Business Day said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jana Marais in Johannesburg at jmarais@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at jviljoen@bloomberg.net
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-03-26/tata-communications-plans-african-expansion-business-day-says.html

Dar’s own Bill Gates in the making Send to a friend
Saturday, 24 March 2012 09:20
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/images/stories/gates-making.jpg
Eric Mutta, 28, gestures during an interview at his parents’ home in Dar es Salaam. The ambitious ICT professional says the youth have to be committed to attain their goals. PHOTO | EMMANUEL HERMAN
By Bernard James
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Eric Mutta is only 28, but he is already making waves at home and abroad.
The self-employed youth is on the verge of a computer software breakthrough that could thrust him and Tanzania into the limelight in the world of Information and Communication Technology.
Even though he is virtually unknown at home, the world has already rewarded Eric with international recognition for innovation.

And today, as a budding software designer and developer, he is all fired up and determined to use his talent not only to bring solutions to the many development challenges facing the nation but also to grow rich at the personal level.

Eric took up programming 13 years ago and has steadily worked on ever more ambitious projects—from an SMS-based mobile dating service which, at its peak in 2010 had 10,000 members, to his prize-winning Grainy Bunch, a food management and monitoring system.

“I’ve learnt that innovation works well for large companies, but it’s not so easy for a sole trader,” he said soon after learning that he had won a US sponsored contest to suggest a software solution to climate change issues. “In the past, I had to spend a lot of time convincing people and explaining the significance of my applications,” he recalls.

The feat landed him a much-needed boost of $15,000 (Sh24 million) which he intends to invest in his cherished entrepreneurial dream—to give some of the best known software companies in the world a run for their money.

The Citizen on Saturday traced Eric to his parents’ home in Mikocheni, where he exclusively told us his inspirational story and shared his dreams. He is the first of four children. His father, Mr Felician Mutta, is a music producer who also handles promotion and distribution work, and his mother Celina is a businesswoman. He studied locally and in Kenya and honed his ICT skills in the UK.

As the saying goes, a prophet receives no honour in his own home. But Eric’s determination has paid off. With the prize money from the US department of State Bureau of African Affairs, he plans to hire a programmer and continue to develop apps that will solve problems in society. “I have to figure out how to turn $15,000 into $15 billion (Sh24 trillion) in 15 years,” he chuckles.Eric wants to be part of a group of young people who thrive on belief, commitment and hard work. He dreams big and wants to see his nascent company—Problems Solved Limited—become the first Tanzanian ICT firm to be sold for $50 million (Sh80 billion), and this by 2015.

But how exactly does this ambitious young man intend to achieve a dream that many would dismiss as mere fantasy? Does it matter that his office now is nothing more than a Toshiba laptop computer, a printer, a mobile phone and, of course, his mind?

“Not at all,” Eric declares. During his brief employment history, he helped Tanzania Revenue Authority and the Tanzania International Container Terminal Services install software that helped reduce cargo clearance time.
In 2007, he designed the Import Declaration Form (IDF), his first major achievement in software innovation, and it helped reduce congestion in Dar es Salaam port. Importers now spend only a few minutes to fill and clear the forms when that exercise could take up to 48 hours using the old system.

He is now riding high with “Mini Shop”, a low cost software he designed to help small businesses keep records of stock, sales, purchases and expenses even in the event of power black-outs. His prize winning idea was based on the same Mini-Shop.

It is this Mini Shop software that Eric has upgraded to an “automated accountant”, which he hopes banks will use for risk analysis and management to enable customers access finance—the biggest challenge for struggling traders. The system, according to Eric, should enable banks access stock data on clients who would otherwise fail to qualify for loans for lack of collateral or a national identity card. The technology will also help follow up credit and sales.

“At Sh200,000, my product is a cheap software version of the expensive Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs) that have frustrated many small enterprises,” explained Eric, whose software is now in use in Dar es Salaam and other towns. He also has one client in Rwanda. The TRA EFDs cost an average of between Sh2m to Sh6 million.

The Mini-Shop is installed at the point of sale to manage stock, sales purchases and expenses and to send income reports periodically using internet modems. One can, therefore, monitor his business performance from a distance.

Public agencies and private companies can save billions of shillings that is now spent on paying expensive foreign accountants or consultants to prepare financial statements—work, he says, that can be done by his cheap and reliable accounting software that incorporates additional aspects in accounts.

Part of Eric’s prize money will go into transforming his company so that it can earn the same amount in a month.

IT challenges
The biggest challenge for development of IT in Tanzania, he says, is a procurement system that sets up a string of conditions that favour large local and foreign companies in tendering and locks out individual developers and beginners. “Procurement in IT should be reviewed to support people like us,” he adds. “It should be based on deliverable ideas and not on how big your company is.”

He has yet to approach the government over Grainy Bunch, though. “But as far as our procurement system is concerned, I am sure it is hard to win such tenders,” he adds.
Piracy of software designed by local experts is also a big problem as many people prefer cheap products. “The very first thing I created in Mini Shop software is an anti-piracy programme,” he confides. “You can’t apply the system without being sanctioned.”

Potentials of ICT
Information Technology has the potential to change the lives of young Tanzanians, he says, provided they get support and inspiration. “What a lot of young people lack here is inspiration,” he adds. “There is no a role model to inspire them and let them say ‘I want to be like this or that’.”

According to Eric, many young people would like to study IT but they lack support from the state that would excite them and also provide real opportunities.

Another barrier to IT development is “poverty of confidence” among youth. Those who are able to make it are ignored. Worse still, there is no inspiration to make people aware of the big things that are happening.

“Ten years from now, I hope to have a giant organisation taking the lead in IT retail products. My dream is to conquer the universe by developing simple and affordable software that will solve problems among the masses in the way that Bakhresa has done with foods and beverages.”
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/component/content/article/37-tanzania-top-news-story/20897-dars-own-bill-gates-in-the-making.html

Young innovator’s software generates flood of enquiries Send to a friend
Saturday, 31 March 2012 10:52
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/images/stories/inv-local.jpg
“It took me only two hours to learn how to use Mini Shop system. The system is really good as it helps you keep track of stocks and sales. On every sale, the system automatically shows you what remains, and so, on the day you want to do stock taking, it takes you only a few hours to do the job that would normally take a day or two. When you sell a product, the system will tell you what remains of the stock or even change”
By Bernard James
Dar es Salaam. Eric Mutta, a largely unknown young Tanzanian who shot to the limelight recently, courtesy of The Citizen on Saturday that highlighted his computer wizardry, is now flooded with enquiries from potential clients who want to tap into his talents.

The focus of interest is a supply chain management system designed by the 28-year-old software engineer, who has already attracted acknowledgement in some quarters abroad. The United States Department of States Bureau of African Affairs has recognised Eric’s innovation, whose software, dubbed Mini Shop, as well as his consultancy services, local business enterprises are scrambling for, ranging from small-scale operators to major banks.

Would-be clients are anxious to acquire the software, because of its combined advantage of storing and retrieving records of stocks, sales, purchases and expenses easily and its relative cheapness.

The Mini-Shop is installed at the point of sale to manage stock, sales purchases and expenses, and to send income reports periodically using internet modems. One can, therefore, monitor his or her business performance from a distance.
Eric says he is currently holding discussions with a leading bank, to explore the possibility of engaging him for product innovations, as well as contracting him to automate its various systems.

The bank was the first to introduce Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), the use of credit cards and to open a branch outside Tanzania.

Eric has upgraded Mini Shop to an “automated accountant”, which he hopes banks will use for risk analysis and management to enable customers to access finance.

A financial and technology services company focusing on fast moving consumer goods was the second large institution to approach the young innovator.
He said the institution has shown interest in adopting Mini Shop as an easy way of accessing records of clients before they can grant loans to its clients.

Commenting on Eric’s innovation on line, a reader, Myoya, remarked: “Poverty of confidence” is what stops many of us to become innovative. We are always running for safe secure jobs but those who are able to make it are ignored. Congratulations to Eric.”

Another reader, Daniel Mbaya, commented: “Eric, I am impressed by your vision. “Problems Solved Limited” (PSL) is a “15 Bagger” and a “Top Dog” company in Tanzania. Think of floating shares to the public to increase your capital base and I will be the first to subscribe. God bless you, God bless Tanzania, God bless Africa.”

Eric has appealed to local companies to go for local cheap products instead of spending millions to buy similar and less effective products/systems abroad.

Sponsoring innovators
He says there is a heartbreaking phenomenon that sees big corporations pouring millions of shillings into sponsorships to award musicians and beauty contestants but ignore innovators, whom he says are key to simplifying human life.

“They give millions to sponsor Miss Tanzania or Kilimanjaro Music Awards. But who in this country is awarding people who use their brains to innovate things that make life easy?” he laments. One of the ideas he wants to float to local banks is for initiating an annual award for innovators.

“They award Miss Tanzania and forget the people who innovated TVs. They award musicians but forget who made a loud speaker or a guitar. Why do we have to wait for people from outside to recognise the works of locals?” he asks.
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/-/21104-young-innovators-software-generates-flood-of-enquiries

qJZtPw9LJCw

qJZtPw9LJCw

Safi sana Eric....

Tanzania moves to end cargo loss at Dar es Salaam Port
Monday, 02 April 2012 07:18 Daniel Semberya
http://www.busiweek.com/images/stories/dar-port-1.jpg

Containers at Dar es Salaam Port. It is hoped the new system will eliminate the risk of cargo in transit theft that has been rampant at the port.
(Photo Leonard Magomba)

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - In a bid to curb loss of cargos at the Dar es Salaam Port, the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) has introduced a modern system which will monitor movement of cargos being transported to landlocked countries.

Speaking to East African Business Week during the launch of the Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) in Dar es Salaam recently, the TRA Commissioner General, Mr. Harry Kitillya, said the commencement of the project will mean that loss of cargos will no longer occur because the monitoring system of goods will be conducted from source to destination.

He said the U-track ECTS-1system is ideal for monitoring and managing any fleet size of tankers or cargo trucks operating anywhere around the World.

The ECTS-1 system which could be easily accessible online giving clients the edge since they can he/she needs to remain in control all the time.
"Simply tracking the cargo is not enough", Kitillya said and adding, "But knowing when its content is being tampered with, and/or knowing where it is, is more important," he insisted.

With this technology, he added, it will be possible for TRA to track and arrest truck drivers who tamper with cargos and reducing complaints of loss or fuel adulteration from the cargo owners.

"The system will enable us to avoid cheating from some cargo owners, who have been claiming that their cargos were in transit while in reality they are not," he noted and adding, "It will facilitate both TRA and truck, cargo owners to track their goods up to the destination and in case someone tampered with cargos along the way, the system will determine."

Elaborating on how it works, Mr. Kitillya added, the system will detect any such attempt, records the event and send an alert to the central data base which will be allocated at the TRA headquarters.
It will monitor the movement of goods under custom control up to the point of exit at the borders," he added.

The system will also enable the authority to work efficiently, remove some inconvenience roadblocks which had become a major problem to transporters, he added.

It will help to speed up the process of clearing cargos from the principal port, because it will facilitate faster movement of documents before even the arrival of the goods, he added.

"The aim of introducing the latest technology is to ensure that the documents wait for the cargo and not vice versa. This is one of the government efforts to remove non tariff barriers and cut down costs of doing business in Tanzania," the commissioner said.

The system will be on a three-month trial, he said. Kitillya appealed to stakeholders and the public to work with the authority to ensure that the technology works efficiently especially in the initial stages.

He said electronic tracking systems could be the most effective and relatively less costly option and one of the key strategies to be adopted by both public and private institutions in efforts to reduce loss as well as unnecessary expenditures.

The project operates under a self-financing arrangement where the tax agency shall acquire the ECTS software and cover communications costs while transporters acquire electronic seals and related equipment from approved hardware suppliers by purchase or leasing.
The tax agency has given transporters three months from April to acquire the gadgets after which they will be mandatory.

Statistics show that the country loses over $15.7 million monthly due to fuel adulteration, dumping and compensations of lost transit cargo.
According to Mr. Kitillya, all check points with corrupt practices in various routes to the neighbouring countries will be removed, increasing cargo turnaround.

Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi transporters may be the biggest beneficiary since they have suffered more losses. Recently Dar Port authorities announced the introduction of a berthing method where ships dock and offload/load on schedule.

Source:
http://www.busiweek.com/news/tanzania/2623-tanzania-moves-to-end-cargo-loss-at-dar-es-salaam-port

Tanzania: TTCL Strikes 10.7 Billion Rwanda's Cyber Deal
By Masembe Tambwe, 4 April 2012

Comment

THE Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) has won a 6.7 million US dollars (about 10.7bn/-) contract to supply 1.244 gigabytes of internet bandwidth to Rwanda for 10 years.

TTCL Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Said Amir Said, told the 'Daily News' shortly before signing the contract in Kigali that striking of the deal was testimony of the firm's growing international reputation.

"After all the problems that TTCL has had over the years, winning this contract shows that the management has turned around its image as well as proof that it has the capacity to compete in big tenders," he said.

Mr Said said under the contract, TTCL was expected to install, configure, test, commission and activate a temporary link with 155 megabytes bandwidth per second by the end of this month. He said the vision that the government has in transforming the country into Information and Communications Technology (ICT) hub for Africa is now within its grasp.

"This contract that we are about to sign is the biggest of its kind so far .. Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya and Uganda have also expressed their interest to us to supply bandwidth to them," he revealed. Mr Said also revealed that Rwanda had also expressed interest in getting additional bandwidth.

The CEO said that with the East African Community and other regional integration efforts being increased, it went without saying that ICTs greatly enhanced the performance of a country and a catalyst to increased efficiency in different sectors of the economy.

According to a statement made available by TTCL, the bulk international broadband bandwidth has been procured through the World Bank grant under the Regional Communication Infrastructure Programme - Rwanda, a project that aims at lowering prices of internet capacity as well as extending the geographical reach of broadband networks.

"As a land-locked country, Rwanda faces significant challenges in getting access to low cost international connectivity. This purchase of bulk international capacity on regional and international networks will significantly boost our vision to make bandwidth available on the Rwandan market," the Rwanda Development Board Chief Executive Officer, Mr John Gara said.

Mr Gara said that if broadband becomes a commodity on the Rwandan market, it would stimulate deployment of a wider and improved range of services to consumers at affordable prices. The permanent fibre optic link between TTCL's existing optic fibre within Tanzania and Rwanda's national backbone will be activated with a 1,244 gigabytes service by the end of October, this year.

"We are using government demand for bandwidth to drive down regional prices, to stimulate investment into regional network infrastructure and to ensure that these lower prices are made available to all market participants on an open-access basis," the Head of the ICT department of the board, Mr Patrick Nyirishema said.

Mr Nyirishema said that the World Bank funded project would go directly into the expansion of broadband connectivity through funding broadband connections to government institutions such as schools, health centres and local government offices and in the implementation of the eGovernment programme.

The National ICT Broadband Backbone Project (NICTBB) is already connected to two major submarine cables of SEACOM and EASSy, extending the connectivity to the neighbouring countries. The virtual landing station of the submarine cables through the project have been established at the respective cross border points of Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya.
http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/local-news/3684-ttcl-strikes-10-7bn-rwanda-s-cyber-deal

Fiber optic cable in Seychelles to boost tourism
http://www.eturbonews.com/files/imagecache/fullpage/cable.png
Image via quora.com

By Apolinari Tairo, eTN Tanzania | May 09, 2012

(eTN) - Counting benefits from the just-landed fiber optic submarine cable, the mid-Indian Ocean islands of Seychelles expect to reap more from tourism through faster and affordable telecommunication services.

The Seychelles Minister for Natural Resources and Industry, Mr. Peter Sinon, said tourism is the mainstay of the island’s economy, with big numbers of tourists visiting the island each year.

“Every year we have a large number of tourists visiting our shores, more than twice our population. As the minister responsible for industry, it is my task to ensure that there is continued investment in Seychelles but it be from abroad or home grown,” Minister Sinon said.

He was optimistic that the arrival of the cable to the island would inspire job creation through tourist investment and other economic bases. Seychelles’ Tourism Ambassador in Tanzania, Maryvonne Pool, said she was encouraged by the cable, which would spur travel communications to the island.

The 2,000-kilometer-long cable from Tanzania’s capital of Dar es Salaam to Seychelles capital of Victoria would as well make easier Internet access, as well as other electronic communications.

Vastly enhanced communications is vital for the tourism sector, along with diversification of the economy, greater access to education, and improved computer literacy.

Rich in tourism, culture, and marine resources, the island state of Seychelles is set to host two major gatherings in two months time, after the carnival, which took place in early March this year, including the 7th Routes Africa 2012 Forum, set for July 8-10, 2012.
http://www.eturbonews.com/29197/fiber-optic-cable-seychelles-boost-tourism

$1m fibre-optic network for Tanzania cities

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/xiaohan1/net.jpg


A one million-dollar fibre network is being set up in Tanzania to link the country’s major towns and improve connectivity between urban and rural areas.





The Metro Network, the brainchild of the Six Telecoms Data Company, targets the metropolitan areas of Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Moshi, Mwanza, Shinyanga, Dodoma, Morogoro, Iringa, Mbeya and Mtwara.


According to David Ngara, the company’s chief technology officer, the project will be implemented in three phases. The first phase, which has already commenced in Dar es Salaam, will take six to eight months to complete.


The second phase will involve connecting capital cities to the fibre network, while the third phase will focus on connecting remote towns still using satellite technology.


Low Internet connectivity and high costs have been major hindrances to the government’s efforts to attract investments to the country.


Nick Odero, chief executive officer of Six Telecoms Data said connectivity problems have prevented businesses from communicating easily and conveniently.
http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/+1m+fibre+optic+network+for+Tanzania+cities/-/2558/1404418/-/r7d6jxz/-/

Kili wewe ni noma yani hata banner wewe ni halali yako.

$1m fibre-optic network for Tanzania cities

http://i1213.photobucket.com/albums/cc475/xiaohan1/net.jpg

http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/+1m+fibre+optic+network+for+Tanzania+cities/-/2558/1404418/-/r7d6jxz/-/

^^aiseee...hata mimi nilitaka kuweka hili banner

Kili wewe ni noma yani hata banner wewe ni halali yako.

:lol: kama kawa, tunatia msisitizo :lol:

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Number of Tanzania Internet users is 5m Send to a friend
Tuesday, 03 January 2012 21:10
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By Ludger Kasumuni
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania, with an estimate population of 42 million people, now has 11 per cent of Internet users, according to the latest report issued by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).

The report shows that as of October 2010, around 4.8 million Tanzanians had access to the Internet up from 1.6 million users in 2005. Out of the current figure, 2,663,200 were institutional users, 1,932,816 were households or individual users and 260,280 Internet café users.

In East Africa, in terms of Internet usage, Kenya is ahead of the other member states with 10.2 million users as at 2010, while Uganda had 4.1 million users by the same year. This is according to the Kenya Communication Commission and Uganda Communication Commission data respectively.

According to a research funded by TCRA, the number of Tanzanians using the internet for communication purposes has been on the rise, particularly as wireless facilities get cheaper with incoming mobile phone handsets.

Currently, official figures of mobile phone subscribers stand at 19 million.
“Mobile wireless is leading by 45 per cent, followed by fixed wireless. The Internet usage is now becoming a popular means of communication option next to voice telephone for many people in Tanzania,” reads part of the report.

Figures released by TCRA show that the country has 2,206,480 mobile wireless internet users, 1,514,580 users of fixed wireless and 471,524 users of VSAT, 388,176 users of other broadband and 269,536 cable users.

The summary of TCRA findings indicates that out of 68 application services licencees only 46 (67 per cent) were found operating, 20 of them (30per cent) could not be traced and two or three per cent were not operating. Out of 46 operational licences, only 38 (83 per cent) of them provide internet services, the rest provide other services like voice network design, data (SMS and MMS), website hosting and website designing, according to the findings

http://thecitizen.co.tz/business/13-local-business/18518-number-of-tanzania-internet-users-is-5m.html

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Tanzania mobile users up 22 pct in 2011
Thu May 17, 2012 3:02pm GMT

* Regulator to cut interconnection fees in 2013

* Telecoms is fastest-growing sector in Tanzania

* Number of internet users also increase

DAR ES SALAAM, May 17 (Reuters) - Tanzania's mobile phone subscribers rose 22 percent to 25.6 million last year, helped by lower tariffs, senior telecommunications officials said on Thursday.

Communications is the fastest-growing sector in east Africa's second biggest economy, with seven players in the local mobile telecoms industry fighting for market share, forcing tariffs lower.

Communications Minister Makame Mbarawa said this week that phone tariffs were halved in Tanzania over the past 10 years due to increased competition.

"There are now eight licensed mobile phone subscribers, with seven in service. Besides increasing consumer choice, the increase in the number of service providers has led to a 50 percent fall in mobile tariffs," he said in a statement.

Interconnection charges, the rate mobile phone operators charge each other for calls made across networks, fell to 7.16 U.S. cents in January this year from 7.83 U.S. cents in 2008, he said.

A new interconnection rate due to be put in place from January 2013 will be lower, Mbarawa said.

However, the decrease in interconnectivity charges, which should have trickled down to lower user tariffs, had been offset by a volatile local currency.

Mobile phone penetration in Tanzania stood at 47 percent last year, the regulator said.

Tanzania said the number of internet users rose to 6 million by May this year from 5.3 million at the end of last year.

Vodacom Tanzania, part of South Africa's Vodacom, is the market leader with a 43 percent market share followed by Bharti Airtel (28 percent), Millicom's subsidiary Tigo Tanzania (22 percent) and Zantel (6 percent).

Other smaller players are state-run telecoms firm TTCL, Sasatel and Benson, which have tiny market share. (Reporting by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala; Editing by James Macharia)

© Thomson Reuters 2012. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.
Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
http://af.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=AFL5E8GHEQD20120517

MY TAKE

i won't be surprised if the number doubles in a course of one year

Tanzania Optic Fiber Network: National ICT Backbone (NICTBB)
http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5341/7234786636_2fe84e67e3_b.jpg

Laying of the NICTBB under Lake Victoria...
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Print | Close this window
Tanzania mobile users up 22 pct in 2011
Thu May 17, 2012 3:02pm GMT

* Regulator to cut interconnection fees in 2013

* Telecoms is fastest-growing sector in Tanzania

* Number of internet users also increase

DAR ES SALAAM, May 17 (Reuters) - Tanzania's mobile phone subscribers rose 22 percent to 25.6 million last year, helped by lower tariffs, senior telecommunications officials said on Thursday.

Communications is the fastest-growing sector in east Africa's second biggest economy, with seven players in the local mobile telecoms industry fighting for market share, forcing tariffs lower.

Communications Minister Makame Mbarawa said this week that phone tariffs were halved in Tanzania over the past 10 years due to increased competition.

"There are now eight licensed mobile phone subscribers, with seven in service. Besides increasing consumer choice, the increase in the number of service providers has led to a 50 percent fall in mobile tariffs," he said in a statement.

Interconnection charges, the rate mobile phone operators charge each other for calls made across networks, fell to 7.16 U.S. cents in January this year from 7.83 U.S. cents in 2008, he said.

A new interconnection rate due to be put in place from January 2013 will be lower, Mbarawa said.

However, the decrease in interconnectivity charges, which should have trickled down to lower user tariffs, had been offset by a volatile local currency.

Mobile phone penetration in Tanzania stood at 47 percent last year, the regulator said.

Tanzania said the number of internet users rose to 6 million by May this year from 5.3 million at the end of last year.

Vodacom Tanzania, part of South Africa's Vodacom, is the market leader with a 43 percent market share followed by Bharti Airtel (28 percent), Millicom's subsidiary Tigo Tanzania (22 percent) and Zantel (6 percent).

Other smaller players are state-run telecoms firm TTCL, Sasatel and Benson, which have tiny market share. (Reporting by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala; Editing by James Macharia)

© Thomson Reuters 2012. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.
Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
http://af.reuters.com/article/tanzaniaNews/idAFL5E8GHEQD20120517

Tanzania: TTCL Plans to Supply Bandwidth to Neighbouring Countries
By Orton Kiishweko, 24 July 2012

Comment

THE Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) is eyeing the inland countries with the view to sell internet bandwidth to markets of Burundi, Mozambique, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia.

In a comprehensive plan that seeks to take advantage of the resilience of Tanzania's National ICT Broadband Backbone, TTCL says it intends to sell more gigabytes of internet bandwidth as a commodity to the neighbouring countries.

The TTCL Marketing Manager, Mr Nicodemus Mngutu, has told 'Business Standard' that they are counting on the country network's guarantee on availability and reliability of 99.8 per cent as compared to the rest of the region which is below 70 per cent.

"Now that the NICTBB has reached all border points of the country, and that we have already illustrated capability by getting the 6.7 million US dollars (about 10.7bn/-) contract to supply 1.244 gigabytes of internet bandwidth to Rwanda for 10 years, we are eyeing more markets of the inland countries which can take advantage of our complete network," he said in an interview.

He added: "As land-locked countries , they face significant challenges in getting access to low cost international connectivity. This purchase of bulk international capacity on regional and international networks will significantly boost our vision to make bandwidth available to such markets."

Mr Mngutu said that if broadband becomes a commodity on the inland markets, it would stimulate deployment of a wider and improved range of services to consumers at affordable prices.

In the TTCL Rwanda contract, TTCL was expected to install, configure, test, commission and activate a temporary link with 155 megabytes bandwidth per second.

He said that so far Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya and Uganda have also expressed their interest to be supplied with bandwidth.Rwanda currently offers low internet penetration at 7 per cent though government is targeting to increase it to 12 per cent this year.

The cost of internet is also still relatively high with users spending on average approximately Rwf30 ($0.05) per mega byte.The Rwanda project aims at lowering prices of internet capacity as well as extending the geographical reach of broadband networks.

After Rwanda, Mozambique will be the next country to take advantage of NICTBB.The NICTBB Technical Coordinator Eng Anita Chingumbe said that Mozambique is in talks with Tanzania's National ICT Broadband Backbone with the view to have the NICTBB reach the country's border.

The NICTBB from Dar es Salaam reaches Mtwara but Movitel wants Tanzania to push it to the remaining distance towards the border so that the company can get its backup for its existing operations in Mozambique.

"The company is in talks with NICTBB on how Mozambique can be connected from the Umoja bridge Mtambaswala border with Tanzania. The talks may result into a deal," she said.

She said what triggered Movitel's interest was when TTCL closed the $6.7-million, 10-year deal to supply 1.244 gigabytes of internet bandwidth to Rwanda.

It made Tanzania the first East African Community member (EAC) to start selling internet bandwidth to other EAC states thanks to the laying of the international submarine fiber-optic cable systems Eassy and Seacom.

"They want to get resilience incase their network goes down. We have already done the feasibility study and we see it viable to take it to the border post from either Masasi or Mtwara," she said.

She said they have finished a feasibility study at border post with Mozambique, adding that Tanzania is safer because it has rings through regions and districts which makes it resilient even if one line were to be cut off.

In the region's context, she said, Tanzania's network also has guarantee on availability and reliability of 99.8 per cent as compared to the region which is below 70 per cent.

"This technology is not only resilient to bad weather, including rain, but it possesses better characteristics such as high bandwidth capacity, compactness, low transmission losses, high signal security, immunity to interference and system reliability." she said.

To target potential markets of all the surrounding countries, she said already, border posts where the cable are reached include Manyovu (to serve Burundi), Rusumo border post (to serve Rwanda), Mutukula (to serve Uganda),Sirali,Namanga and Horohoro border posts to serve Kenya.

Tunduma border point for Zambia and Kasumulo border post for Malawi.Other landlocked countries, she said, may express interest to use the newly built national ICT backbone so as they can get international links via the submarine cables that landed at the Indian Ocean shores recently.

Such countries include Zambia, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo and Malawi. She added that it has resulted in an increase of mobile phone users from less than 100,000 in the late 1990s to about 20 million in December 2010, which translates to around 50 per cent teledensity. This contributed about 25 per cent to the national GDP in 2009/2010 financial year.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201207240101.html

Tanzania: New Cable to Lower Telecoms Cost
By Sosthenes Mwita, 26 July 2012

Comment

Dodoma — CONSTRUCTION of the initial two phases of the National Optic Fibre Cable has covered 7,650 kilometres linking all Mainland regions. The project is divided into five phases.

The cable has also linked some districts mainly those close to regional headquarters, a move that is expected to reduce telecoms charges significantly. This was said in the National Assembly by the Minister for Communications, Science and Technology, Prof Makame Mbarawa, when moving his ministry's budget estimates for the 2012/2013 financial year.

A write-up directing implementation of the third phase, which links all districts and data centres is ready and would facilitate much easier and cheaper communication. He said efforts to secure funds for the project are underway.

The Fourth Phase will involve construction of cable linkages in cities, municipalities and townships, the minister said. The linkages, also known as metro networks, are already in place in the city of Dar es Salaam where investors in communication facilities helped out.

The fifth and final phase of the National Optic Fibre Cable will take in any other beneficiaries or Last Mile Broadband Connectivity. Preparations for this phase of the project are also underway. Minister Mbarawa said that the completion of the initial two phases facilitates communication in the Northern Ring and Southern Ring. If one part of the cable is faulty the remaining portions continue working efficiently, the minister said.

He told the Parliamentarians that the National Optic Fibre Cable has been connected to international cables that are laid in the sea. These include SEACOM, EASSY and SEAS. The cable will link Tanzania to Seychelles. Other countries that will benefit from the international optic fibre cable projects include Rwanda (through Rusumo); Burundi (through Kabanga and Manyovu); Zambia (through Tunduma) and Malawi (through Kasumulo).

Other countries are Kenya (through Namanga, Sirari and Horohoro) and Uganda (through Mutukula). Until last month five local communication companies (telecom operators) had been connected to the National Optic Fibre Cable. These are TTCL, Airtel, Tigo, Zantel and Simbanet. Foreign companies including MTL of Malawi, UCOM of Burundi; MTN of Rwanda and MTN and Airtel of Zambia use the National Optic Fibre Cable for international communication.

The minister also said that the presence of the optic fibre cable has brought down the costs of making telephone calls and other forms of communication. "The costs will drop even much further as time rolls on," the minister said. Giving an example, the minister said in 2009 (before installation of the cable) the services of Broadband 2 Giga Byte for small-scale users was 100,000/-. The price has now come down to 30,000/-, the minister said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201207260199.html

Tigo in Network Expansion Drive
Tagged: Business, Company, East Africa, ICT, Tanzania
BY LEONARD MAGOMBA, 13 AUGUST 2012
Comment
Dar es Salaam — As one of its expansion plan, Tigo Tanzania is expected to spend over $100m to expand its network coverage and capacity.

According to an expert this move will create stiff competition among the mobile phone operators in the country.

The expert said that competition has already forced mobile phone operators to lower their tariffs as well as increase promotional campaign aimed at acquiring more subscribers which according to Business Monitor International (BMI) is expected to grow to over 36 million by 2015.

In Tanzania, the number of mobile phone users rose by 22% last year to reach 25.6 subscribers largely due to lower tariffs.

According to senior government officials, this has increased mobile phone penetration to reach 47% in 2011.

This will mean that Tigo's expansion plan would enable them to boost its subscriber base as well as increase competition with other mobile phone operators such as Airtel and Vodacom who are also looking to to boost number of their subscribers so as to get a shre of the available market.

A recently released report from the World Bank and infoDev, its technology entrepreneurship and innovation programme estimated that the number of mobile subscriptions worldwide, both pre-paid and post-paid, is expected to grow from fewer than one billion in 2000 to over six billion this year.

Out of these, nearly five billion are in developing countries, states the report on development released last month.

It also states that ownership of multiple subscriptions is becoming increasingly common, suggesting that their numbers will soon exceed that of the human population.

"More than 30 billion mobile applications, or 'apps,' were downloaded in 2011 - software that extends the capabilities of phones, for instance to become mobile wallets, navigational aids or price comparison tools," the bank notes in the Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile report.

Speaking to the East African Business Week in Dar es Salaam last week, the General Manager of the mobile phone operator, Mr Diego Gutierrez said that Tigo engaged in a network expansion program to increase its network capacity and ease connectivity among its subscribers.

"As part of our strategy, we are planning to invest about $100m this year to upgrade our services as well as installing new base stations nationwide," Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez said that the investment will increase network capacity, improve coverage and enhance users' experience.

"Access to the internet will be more widely available in the country and our customers will experience faster connection speeds," he said.

The expansion, which is expected to be completed by end of this year, will spread to all 26 regions including, Lake Zone region, Northern and Southern regions, Mtwara, Iringa and Pwani, giving Tigo the largest footprint coverage in the country.

"This investment demonstrates our commitment to providing our customers with the highest quality communication standards," he said and added "As a consumer-centric organization, we want our customers to benefit from the most extensive network coverage and the possible quality of service."

With this investment, more people across the country will have access to traditional mobile services but also to more innovative services such as Tigo Pesa and Tigo internet, he said.

The mobile phone operator, started operations in 1994 as the first cellular network in Tanzania. For the time being, covers 26 regions in Tanzania and Zanzibar.

It strives to be among the most innovative mobile phone operators in the country which are offering services ranging from affordable mobile voice communications to high speed Internet access and mobile financial services.

Tigo is part of Millicom International Cellular S.A (MIC) which provides affordable, widely accessible and readily available cellular telephony services to more than 43 million customers in 13 emerging markets in Africa and Latin America.
http://www.busiweek.com/science-a-technology/ict/3339-tigo-in-network-expansion-drive

Tanzania: Tigo to Upgrade Network
Tagged: Business, Company, East Africa, ICT, Tanzania
10 AUGUST 2012
Comment
TIGO plans to invest 100 million US dollars this year in upgrading its network and install new base stations in various parts of the country.

"This material investment will increase network capacity, improve coverage and enhance users' experience," Tigo said in a press release issued in Dar es Salaam.

"Access to the Internet will be more widely available in the country and our customers will experience faster connection speeds," the firm added.

Tigo General Manager Diego Gutierrez says the expansion, which is expected to be completed by end of this year, will spread to all 26 regions including, Lake Zone region, Northern and Southern regions, Mtwara, Iringa and Coast, giving Tigo the largest coverage footprint in the country.

"This investment demonstrates our commitment to providing our customers with the highest quality communications standards," said Mr Gutierrez.

"As a consumer-centric organisation, we want our customers, wherever they may be, to benefit from the most extensive network coverage and the highest possible quality of service. With this investment, more people across the country will have access to traditional mobile services but also to more innovative services such as Tigo Pesa and Tigo Internet," he said.
http://www.dailynews.co.tz/index.php/biz/8431-tigo-to-upgrade-network

Tanzania top Africa mobile money user

http://www.ippmedia.com/

Tanzania is leading in m-commerce (mobile money services) across the Sub Saharan African markets, beating South Africa, Ghana and Nigeria and even Uganda, according to a research released in August this year by Ericcson.

Presenting the findings here on Thursday, a senior advisor with the Swedish company, Anders Elarndsen said according to the research, titled Consumers in Sub-Saharan Africa Ready for Next Step in M-Commerce, Tanzania is leading by 67 per cent in the mobile money services market against Ghana (9) and South Africa (24).
Tanzania also leads in mobile payments — airtime top ups, merchants, bills and salary payments -- by 60 percent, followed by South Africa 19 percent and Ghana by 6 percent.
In mobile money transfers — both domestic and international —Tanzania is also the leader with 42 percent followed by South Africa (4) and Ghana (1).

Even in mobile banking -- balance enquiry, withdrawals, deposits and credit services — Tanzanian subscribers comprise 19 percent followed by South Africa (13) and Ghana (3).
Tanzanians also lead in the region with more subscribers having more than two simcards — 35 percent, two simcards and 11 percent more than two.

South African consumers lead in the region with more subscribers holding one simcard (95 percent), while Ghana follows with 66 percent.

Responding to the question why most Tanzanians subscribers go for two or more cards, he said in Tanzania most people do not use conventional banking, adding that they have more trust in the phone as their wallet.

Elerndsen said South Africa prefers to use conventional banking to mobile phone money system because they trust the former most.

He said the most interesting thing about m-commerce is that women play a very important role, sometimes more often than men.

He said according to Ericcson Consumer Laboratory, where reliable infrastructure is lacking in Africa, new technologies have stepped in and transformed the situation, with data showing that the population is ready for any technological transformation in m-commerce.

According to Finscope Gallup, 30 million people in the three countries remain unbanked and without phones, while 40 million are banked and have mobile phones, he said.

At least 50 million people are unbanked mobile phone users, he said adding that these are the targets of banks and mobile network providers.

Ericcson is a leading provider of communications technology and services operating in more than 180 countries with more than 40 percent of world’s mobile traffic going through its network and supporting more than 2.5 billion subscribers.

Its net sales for last year was USD35bn.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

16th September 12
Safari Yetu youth innovator to travel to Silicon Valley
Beatrice Philemon
Arnold Minde from Safari Yetu Company has emerged the overall winner among 50 entries in the ICT/technology innovations competition organized by the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH), Dar Teknohama Business Incubator in collaboration with Start-up World from the United States.

Dr Hassan Mshinda, director general of COSTECH made the announcement on Friday that Minde emerged the overall winner for designing best innovative ICT solutions that people can use to buy bus tickets online.

Minde will represent Tanzania in a Silicon Valley event, the hub of US creativity and business start up in the field of information technology. He will join other winners from different countries around the world in the US to show-case his innovative ICT solutions. He will compete in the Start-up World Competition at the grand finale that will take place in the Silicon Valley to select the world’s best start-up ICT company.

The judges have selected him by looking for the latest innovative and disruptive technology solutions being developed by start-up companies in Tanzania.

Other criteria in reaching the decision was how innovative/disruptive the idea is, how scalable the technology is, how innovative the pitch is, its lobal reach and human impact.

During the event, the award was presented to him by Deputy Minister January Makamba of the Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology, the COSTECH chief noted, saying that the winner will obtain financial award and incubation support from international venture capital and other sources.

The competition that attracted hundreds of applicants across the country saw nine start-ups nominated for the final pitching to find one start up to represent the country at the Silicon Valley grand finale.

Nine companies that were selected to enter into the later stages of the competition include Magilatech, Victor Technosolve, Empresa, Morogoro Centre for Food Processing Training, TMT Technologies, Blackmark Corporation, Harusi Yangu, Book by Book and Rosello Company, talking from Dubai.

“As COSTECH and DTBI (the business incubator project) we normally promote start-up ICT companies, help them to grow, create job opportunities for them,” he said, noting that right now the commission has one year old supporting start-up ICT companies to help them realize their dreams.

Deputy Minister Makamba said that as Government the ministry will continue to support creativity and innovation and is committed to supporting young people like the ones presenting their innovations in the awarding ceremony.

Dar Technohama Business Incubator (DTBI) is among several avenues set up to support start-up SMEs, company SMEs and youths with novel technological innovations and ideas.

“As a country we are now looking beyond our current market and strategizing to tap into the greater East African market,” the deputy minister observed, urging innovators and entrepreneurs to start thinking beyond Tanzania and build ICT solutions that can solve problems in the greater East African market and beyond.

He paid gratitude to Start-up World from the US for accepting to bring the competition to Tanzania to help local start-up companies show-case what they have in terms of ICT technology.

Right now Tanzania is emerging as one among bright spots of growth in ICT entrepreneurship in Africa, he said, referring to an issue of The Economist, an influential UK business weekly in a special write up last year, indicating that the country was ranked no.5 among the top 10 high growth countries in Africa.
He said this performance was due to a number of factors that include political stability since independence, a uniquely unified population (unified by a single language and culture), as well the recent national fiber backbone, the deep sea ports among other factors.

“To add on, recent statistics indicate that mobile penetration in the country has grown from fewer than five per cent in 2000 to 15 per cent in 2005, 50 per cent in 2010 and currently stands at a whopping 70-80 per cent ,” he said.

Estimations predict mobile adoption above 90 per cent by 2014, the deputy minister further explained, noting that the massive market that it opens up is only now starting to be tapped in terms of pick-up of technological innovations.

Technologies like mobile banking are still very young, but the room for innovation in this and other ICT space is enormous, he asserted, advising the youths present that now is the time to be a technology entrepreneur in Tanzania in particular and Africa in general. “Right now there is a new, giant, untapped market in Tanzania just waiting to be served,” he declared.

“Economic and social benefits will be tremendous, and those spearheading this wave of innovation are and will be the people and organizations in this room,” he added.

GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/functions/print_article.php?l=45884

Broadband market gets new player
Wednesday, 31 October 2012 23:28

By Polycarp Machira
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. As the government is struggling to build thousands of miles of fibre-optic cable and committed to link even the most remote communities to a super-fast connection system, another broadband company has entered the market.

Infinity Africa Network Limited, one of the internet companies in Tanzania, has partnered with Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PrJSC (Yahsat), a private joint stock company fully owned by Mubadala, an investment arm of the government of Abu Dhabi to provide faster services in the country.
The partnership will offer local businesses and consumers cost effective, high performance, wide reaching, and reliable internet connectivity through its YahClick Service. The YahClick service is designed to provide broadband satellite internet to everyone and is set to open new business opportunities and connectivity to a wide range of industries, NGOs, government, and education organisations throughout the country.

“Infinity Africa’s move towards broadband satellite internet via the YahClick service is set to provide Tanzania with cost effective, high performance, wide reaching, and reliable internet connectivity via aerial infrastructure that utilises the Ka-Band frequency,” said Mr Hussein Dharsee, founder and director of Infinity Africa Network Limited.

He noted that the most significant feature of satellite technology is its ability to provide internet services in both urban and remote areas within the borders. YahClick’s advanced technology, according to the director will enable residents and corporate in Tanzania to bridge the digital divide of the country’s interior; providing the prospect for businesses to grow.

With YahClick you can instantly connect to the Internet from anywhere by using a small satellite dish and satellite modem. YahClick satellite coverage will bring fast and efficient communication to many regions throughout Tanzania, all of which are currently without Internet including everyday telephony connections. Users can access Internet services without having to wait for terrestrial systems to roll out and without having to pay for expensive fibre or copper lines, or even suffer service cuts.
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/business/13-local-business/26937-broadband-market-gets-new-player

Vodacom Tanzania has inaugurated a trial of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology in the Msasani Peninsula area of Dar es Salaam, using equipment supplied by Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN). The carrier’s managing director Rene Meza is quoted as saying that the cellco is currently holding talks with the national regulator, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), concerning the allocation of spectrum suitable for a commercial LTE launch countrywide. It is understood that Meza is interested in a combination of 800MHz and 1800MHz spectrum, as the experience of other markets shows that such frequencies offer the widest coverage possibilities and most cost-efficient deployment of LTE, coupled with the widest available of supported devices.

Under the trial, NSN has supplied Vodacom Tanzania with its single RAN platform, based on the flexi multiradio base station. The supplied equipment also comprises its evolved packet core platform, including the flexi network server and network gateway and liquid core-based serving GPRS support node. The supplied system allows LTE smartphones to fall back to GSM and 3G networks where 4G coverage is unavailable.
http://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2013/01/31/vodacoms-tanzanian-unit-trials-lte-in-dar-es-salaam/

Financial operations - More Tanzanians living in rural areas will now have access to banking services, starting next month from FINCA Tanzania.


FINCA Tanzania has received a banking licence from the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), making it the first microfinance institution to transform itself from a non-regulated entity into a microfinance company regulated by the central bank. FINCA Tanzania Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr Tom Koscis said the licence allows the financial institution to start offering savings products to the public.

'The licence by the central bank, allows us to accept deposits from the public and to carry out banking services as a microfinance institution, making this a historic event in Tanzania's financial sector,' he explained. This is an important step toward financial inclusion as FINCA brings over 73,000 clients, mainly from rural areas of the country who do not have access to banking services.

'We are launching savings products that are easy to access, easy to operate and at no fee at all. We are also making it easy for our clients to open an account with minimal paper requirements and procedures they are only required to carry the IDs to our branches,' Mr Koscis noted.

In addition to the current 25 branches countrywide, FINCA Tanzania is making progress with integrating mobile technology into the company's operations to improve access to services and efficiency.

'Over 20,000 of repayments transaction each month are cashless, using mobile money and development of alternative delivery channels will continue and extend to other areas, to make banking more accessible and affordable,' he added.

By Rose Athumani

http://www.afriquejet.com/201302282765/Tanzania-Economy-FINCA-upgrades-financial-operations.html

Good move hii wakuu?

Reuters) - Tanzania's government is set to start talks to buy back a stake in a state-run telecoms company from the local subsidiary of India's Bharti Airtel, gaining full ownership of the telecoms provider, the president's office said on Friday.

It did not say why the government would buy back the 35 percent stake in Tanzania Telecommunications Corp (TTCL) from the local unit of India's largest mobile network operator.

But the transaction will allow the east African country to lift its 65 percent stake in TTCL and then seek new investors for the company, which the government said would be in charge of managing the country's national fibre optic network.

President Jakaya Kikwete discussed the deal with Bharti Airtel Chairman, Sunil Bharti Mittal during a meeting in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, the statement said.

Communications is the fastest-growing sector in east Africa's second-biggest economy, with seven players in the local mobile telecoms industry fighting for market share, forcing tariffs lower. The country had 25.9 million fixed line and mobile phone subscribers as of September 2012, according to the latest industry data.

Bharti Airtel Tanzania Ltd is the second-largest mobile phone operator in the country after Vodacom Tanzania, part of South Africa's Vodacom Group.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/03/08/tanzania-india-telecoms-airtel-idINDEE9270DB20130308

TANZANIA is geared to assure constant connectivity of internet services in case of failure of Submarine Fibre-optic Cables linking the country with the rest of the world by setting up a standby restoration capacity.

Tanzania Telecommunication Company Limited (TTCL) Principal Marketing and Sales Officer, Mr Peter Ngota made the revelation in Dar es Salaam yesterday when launching the company's new products.

The products, namely "Bando na TTCL and Basti," would enable customers to remain connected to the internet, send messages and make calls at very low costs. Mr Ngota also explained that the recent outages of internet connectivity experienced in the country were not directly connected to the National ICT backbone infrastructure, promising to control any future disruptions if and when they occur.

According to Mr Ngota, the problems might have been caused by the disconnection and disruptions that occurred at Egypt's undersea internet cable. The incident is said to have been caused by three divers who were caught cutting submarine cables that hit several lines connecting Europe with Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

"I am not sure about the veracity of the reports, but that is what might shed light on the recent internet connectivity we have experienced," he said. On the other hand, Mr Ngota hailed the government for setting up the submarine fibre-optic cable that has seen growth in various sectors.

"We highly commend the government for setting up the submarine cable that has seen various economic and social services improving in many respects," he said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201304040030.html

Smile Communications Tanzania , a subsidiary of Smile Telecoms Holdings Limited has launched the first commercial Fourth Generation Long Term Evolution (4G LTE) broadband network in Tanzania.

Fiona McGloin, Country Manager of Smile Tanzania, sees the introduction of 4G LTE as another major milestone in the development of East Africa and the continent as a whole. "Our experience in providing services to our customers over the past six months in Dar es Salaam has demonstrated that access to the best, most flexible, fastest technology anywhere in the world results in increased usage and demand for broadband" she said during the launch in Dar es salaam.

According to Smile Group CEO Irene Charnley, the true benefits of 4G LTE lie in the radically improved user experience, and the ability of this global technology standard to enhance access to the most advanced form of communications whilst substantially reducing the costs of operations.

"4G LTE is making the internet come alive for our customers due to the quality of the user experience" says Charnley. "Surfing the internet, downloading music and movies without buffering, communicating via HD voice or uninterrupted HD video calling - the internet experience has become better, faster, easier, and more reliable.

"The introduction and accessibility to this groundbreaking 4G LTE technology will give impetus to Tanzanians and Tanzania to reach their full potential whilst simultaneously accelerating mobile broadband penetration across the continent, thereby boosting major economic activity. We've been waiting and hoping for the future.

With 4G LTE, the future is here!" she said. Smile Communications already has a presence in five countries across Africa, including Tanzania. The Smile 4G LTE broadband network, which already covers Dar es Salaam, will be rolled out in phases across Tanzania over the next two years "The company was founded on a simple vision - to provide affordable, high quality and easy-to-use broadband internet access and communication services to everyone across Africa, using low cost and innovative business models and the latest technologies," says Charnley.

"Today is a major milestone in making that vision a reality." In 2012, Smile began revolutionising communication in East Africa when it chose Tanzania as the first country in Africa in which to deploy its 4G LTE broadband network. After more than a year of extensive testing and valuable feedback provided by technosavvy trial customers, Smile made its 4G LTE broadband network commercially available to its current customer base which ranges from SMEs and households, to hotspots and individuals in Dar es Salaam.

Smile 4G LTE is now commercially available across the city. The Smile 4G LTE network uses the most advanced telecommunications technology and standards available anywhere in the world, and will provide unparalleled speed, reliability, quality and ease of use. 4G LTE enables ultrahigh- speed internet access, accelerating broadband penetration and vastly improving the online experience.

The 4G LTE standard is at the cutting-edge of mobile telecommunications. The inherently flexible and constantly evolving nature of 4G LTE guarantees that it will remain the gold standard in mobile data and voice services for years to come
http://allafrica.com/stories/201305170074.html?aa_source=acrdn-f0

4G!! saa hivi utaweza kuangalia movies online, kuangalia mechi online..etc etc,..sema kuna mtu anajua bei yake?

4G!! saa hivi utaweza kuangalia movies online, kuangalia mechi online..etc etc,..sema kuna mtu anajua bei yake?

Hivi hii si kampuni nyingine? nadhani nilisikia vodacom nao wameshaanza trial, ina maana kuna kampuni mbili zinatoa huduma hii kwa sasa?

yeah yeah nadhani ni nyingine..sema kuna kampuni moja naijua ipo barabara ya ali hassan mwinyi kule karibia na ubalozini wanatoa huduma ya internet fasta sana sema bei kichzi..huwa za makampuni

Hi all! been reading too much with nothing from me and so thought of joining you. My first post is on CHANIA-TRENT SATNAV with latest TOMTOM maps that covers the whole of East Africa including Ethiopia and Sudan.:banana::banana::banana:http://www.chania-trent.com

welcome to the Tanzanian forum snowlion..:)

Thank you very much Raindrop