THE
reduction of interconnection rates between phone services providers made
subscribers believe that telecommunication will become cheaper with effect from
Friday, last week.
The
charges were reduced from 115/- to 34/92, which by any standards is a
significant reduction. However, most subscribers are now complaining to have
felt very little impact after the widely hyped reduction.Several telecom firms
are now claiming that the impact could not be felt at present because they are
still required to pay many taxes to local and central government authorities
and continue investing heavily in the infrastructure.
The
contention by telecom services providers is, however, highly debatable because
they have been giving the same excuse for several years.On its part, the
government has consistently strived to provide fiscal support to investors in
the telecommunications industry as well as providing the necessary
infrastructure for their operations.
The
government's investment includes the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB)
project that was embarked on in 2008. The project is estimated to cost over
251bn/- on its completion.It (the backbone) has the capacity to carry on all
information and link ups with international submarine cables that connect the
country to the rest of the globe.
According
to official records, the project is funded by a $170 million soft loan from
China and 30bn/- from government sources.Several telecom firms, including
Vodacom, have already connected to the NICTBB and started reaping the benefits
of high speed, efficiency and clarity provided by the facility.It is hoped that
the benefits will now trickle down to millions of subscribers using mobile
phones for texting SMS, making voice calls and data services, including internet.
There
is evidence that telecom firms are making good money and are capable of
operating at fair and reasonable tariffs as opposed to targeting super profits.
DailyNews
Tanzania