 |
| Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
DAR
ES SALAAM, Tanzanians will soon enjoy calling from one mobile phone to another
at a lower rate following a move by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory
Authority (TCRA) to start seeking views on the reviewed interconnection rates.
TCRA's Director
General, Prof John Nkoma told East African Business Week in Dar es Salaam that
his authority is proposing the reduction of the interconnection by 60% come
March 1st, 2013.
According to Prof
Nkoma, the proposed reduction was designed after conducting a cost based
interconnection study recently.
Nkoma
said TCRA proposed Tsh34.92 (about$0.0218) for 2013, Tsh32.40 (about$0.0203)
for 2014,Tsh30.58 (about$0.019) for 2015,Tsh 58.27 (about$0.036) for 2016 and
Tsh26.96 (about$0.017) for 2017.
"As you can
see from the figures we announced, the interconnection rates are really going
down, Prof Nkoma said, adding that we are planning to lower the charges as low
as $0.017 by 2017."
The voice call
termination rate is at $0.0716 according to 2012 rates but it is expected to
reduce to $0.0218 starting March 2013, the authority said last week.
Interconnection
charges, the rate mobile phone operators charge each other for calls made
across networks, fell to $7.16 in January this year from $7.83 in 2008, said
Minister for Science and Technology, Prof Makame Mbarawa.
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% by 2011, the regulator said, adding that
the number of internet users rose to 6 million by May this 2012 from 5.3
million at the end of 2011.
Tanzania's mobile
phone subscribers rose 22% to 25.6 million last year, helped by lower tariffs.
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.
However,
according to Prof Mbarawa, 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% fall in mobile tariffs," he said.
Vodacom Tanzania,
part of South Africa's Vodacom, is the market leader with a 43% market share
followed by Bharti Airtel (28%), Millicom's subsidiary Tigo Tanzania (22%) and
Zantel (6%).
Other smaller
players are state-run telecoms firm TTCL, Sasatel and Benson, which have tiny
market share.
Eastafricabusinessweek.com