The Citizen
Reporter writes
that in the wake of a tender announced in October 2012, the winners of the
contract are: Vodacom Tanzania, Tanzania Telecommunication Company (TTCL), Tigo
Tanzania and Airtel Tanzania. The east African nation’s UCSAF works
to improve accessibility and participation in the provision of communication
services, with a view of promoting social economic development of rural and
urban underserved areas. In October last year the UCSAF invited
sealed bids from ‘eligible and qualified bidders’ for the provision of basic
voice call services in underserved areas in the country.
The initiative
resulted from a study which found that more than 2,000 villages across Tanzania
lacked access to (wireless) telecoms services because it was not profitable for
domestic network operators to invest there. Under the UCSAF, the government announced tenders covering 152
rural wards (covering 1.6 million people), worth TZS16 billion
(USD10 million). However, only 52 wards were picked up by the four winning
firms, covering just 316 villages. The telcos paid TZS9.3 billion.
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