Tanzania's ICT news

[Geza Ulole]

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

[Geza Ulole]

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/news...in-Rwanda.aspx

[Geza Ulole]

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/news...-in-kenya.aspx

[mwanamwiwa]

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!

[Geza Ulole]

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

[mwanamwiwa]

Okay.

[Geza Ulole]

going regional...!

[Geza Ulole]

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

[Geza Ulole]

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

[mwanamwiwa]

Originally Posted by Geza Ulole

going regional...!

Indeed!Still wrong forum.

[Geza Ulole]

Tanzania to spend $189m on fibre optic network
User Rating: / 1
PoorBest
Category: Business
Published on 15 January 2012 Hits: 753
Email Print

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

[Geza Ulole]

Tanzanian mobile phone users to hit 36m by 2015 Send to a friend
Monday, 25 July 2011 22:46
digg


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...m-by-2015.html

[Geza Ulole]

Special report:Tanzania takes seventh place in African telecoms, report reveals Send to a friend
Saturday, 15 October 2011 21:32

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.


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.

[Geza Ulole]

Number of Tanzania Internet users is 5m Send to a friend
Tuesday, 03 January 2012 21:10
digg
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-...ers-is-5m.html

[Geza Ulole]

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...a-into-ict-hub

[Geza Ulole]

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.



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/t...h-raphta-city/

[Geza Ulole]

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/...th-government/

[bantugbro]

Interesting thread....



Lets meet there...

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

[mwinyi]

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

[Dhuks]

Originally Posted by mwinyi

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.