Calls charges per company on 1st Quarter 2013 according to TCRA | Create infographics

The statics show that ;for both desktop and mobile internet users are deploying the following best 10 apps for their social transactions and Interaction:

1. M-pesa

This is the Vodacom mobile transaction application ,giving service to multi-communication companies,it is the first among the transaction companies in Tanzania.It is usable to peoples of all ages.

2. Tigo-pesa

It is the second mobile application in Tanzania owned by the popular company TigoTanzania (Millicom international); Most of youths use this application for they are many of them using tigo services.

3. Airtel money

It is the third next mobile application,usable to people of all ages.It is said to have less user in big cities and in turn it is common in rural areas.

4.Facebook

It is the first internet computer –mobile application with large number of users in Tanzania.

5.Twitter

It is usable by most of people who are famous and internet literate such as A.Y,Flaviana Matata and so many others.

6. You-tube

It is used by people of all ages particulary those who are computer literate,fors and watching movies documentaries etc.

7.BBM

It is the coming up social media used by the group of students and other youths in big cities such as Arusha and Dar es salaam.

8. What’s app

It is the social media mobile application for smart phones,which is approximately used by 2 of 3 of smart phone users in Tanzania.

9.My space

Used by most of scholars in colleges and high schools

10.Google+

It is the next face book in Tanzania whre few social media marketers utilize for the sake of their marketing issues.

Tech360 Correspondent 

Zantel is proudly introducing 3G Service in Zanzibar. Faster internet service which never had in Zanzibar. Get the best internet value and connect today and enjoy high internet connectivity at affordable rates that suit you.

With 3G Network a customer will enjoy and get fast Internet service and have various services like Video Calls, Online TV, downloading with a speed up to 21Mbps.

In line with 3G service in Zanzibar, we are introducing an UNLIMITED bundle among our range of bundles on 3G service to keep being competitive in the market and attract more data customers. For a recharge of TSH 20,000 a customer will enjoy unlimited internet for 3 consecutive days. The introduction of this new unlimited bundle maintains Zantel’ s data services attributes of being fast, reliable, convenient and affordable and now even more so with the introduction of 3G.

With 3G service a customer will enjoy various bundle offers on 3G modem as well as their mobile handset.

How to subscribe into the bundles:
To subscribe into any of 3G bundles, users will dial *149*07#. Select options 3, 4 and 5 which are for 3G services and then select the bundle they want.

• Users who have 3G Modem, they will have option to select their desired bundles within the Zantel 3G mobile partner.

• Other users will dial *149*07# on their handsets and select their desired bundles.

ZAN TEL.COM

Tech360correspondent

Zantel Tanzania, has announced the appointment of Mr. Pratap Ghose as their new Chief Executive Officer filling the position which previously used to be owned by Mr. Ali Bin Jarsh, who led the company for two years.

Mr. Pratap used to work with Etisalat as the group Vice President, handling Etisalat activities in the African Region.With over 18 years of experience in Business Optimization and finance he is considered to be the wright person to fill the gap. Also at some point of time he used to work as Chief Financial Officer for Millicom's International (Tigo) in Tanzania

Tech360 Correspondent 

THE Tanzania Sports Writers' Association (TASWA) has received a 6m/- boost from the mobile phone company, Zantel to support the next weekend's annual general meeting planned for Kiromo View Resort in Bagamoyo, Coast Region.

Zantel Director of Corporate Customers, Ahmed Seif Mohamed, said that they feel proud to be associated with TASWA and promised continued support.

"Zantel has always maintained good relations with sports journalists in the country and when we received TASWA's request to support the annual general meeting, straight away we felt it was wise to approve it," he said.

TASWA Chairman, Juma Pinto thanked Zantel for the support, saying it has eased the burden for the association to hold the meeting. He said the association need 20m/- to smoothly hold the meeting on December 21 and 22. Pinto said the meeting will draw at least 100 participants from all media houses in the country.

The association Secretary General, Amir Mhando, reminded all members to confirm their participation into the meeting by paying their membership fee.

Daily News Tanzania

Overview African market now 'mature'

After a decade of massive growth, the African mobile telecoms sector is entering a period of consolidation and reorganisation. Although the citizens of half a dozen African countries still have very limited access to telecoms, the era of rapidly increasing penetration rates is coming to an end. Competition has driven down tariffs in most markets, thereby reducing average revenue per user (ARPU), so most operators are banking on the introduction of new services to generate more income and sustain what has been the most dynamic part of the African economy since the dawn of the new millennium.

There are about 644m subscribers in Africa at present, resulting in a penetration rate of about 60%. According to the 2012 African Mobile Factbook, global mobile phone penetration now stands at 85%, so Africa still stands some way behind the global average. Figures vary but most estimates agree that there will be 1bn mobile phones in Africa sometime around 2016-17, which should ensure that most Africans have mobile phones, even if a significant proportion of the population have two or more handsets in order to differentiate their personal and work lives.

Brahima Sanou, the director of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Telecommunication Development Bureau, said: "The past year has seen continued and almost universal growth in ICT [information and communications technology] uptake. The surge in numbers of mobile broadband subscriptions in developing countries has brought the internet to a multitude of new users. But despite the downward trend, prices remain relatively high in many low income countries. For mobile broadband to replicate the mobile cellular miracle and bring more people from developing countries online, 3G network coverage has to be extended and prices have to go down even further."

Slower growth in penetration rates may encourage merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. Global M&A action was frantic around the time that Vodafone became the global market leader but has slowed down somewhat in recent years, as operators have sought to concentrate on increasing their ARPU after laying out vast sums in acquiring 3G licences.

India's Bharti Airtel bought its African assets from Zain in 2010 but there still appears to be considerable scope for takeovers in the near future and it would be no surprise if the number of major players decreased over the next few years. Airtel itself is considering merging its Africa and Indian operations, partly because the former continues to make a loss. The company has conceded that it will probably not meet its $5bn revenue target for its African business for the 12-month period up to March 2013.

Some telecoms industry commentators have suggested that Africa could become the first post-PC continent. There is certainly merit in this argument as landline infrastructure was very slow to develop in Africa by global standards and appears to have been leapfrogged entirely by mobile telecoms in some countries. The promise of higher capacity mobile internet access has persuaded many that some of Africa's biggest markets are ready for the 4G revolution. In short, 4G technology provides ultra broadband internet access, which enables high speed communications at high mobility. For instance, it allows people to access movies, gaming service and video conferencing via their mobile handsets and while on the move. About 18% of all mobile phones in Africa are smartphones and this figure is steadily increasing, although the continent has more basic handsets than anywhere else in the world.

While BlackBerry has suffered from increasing competition in its established markets, its smartphones are becoming more popular in Africa. BlackBerry manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) has opened a retail store in Nigeria where it enjoys a 50% share of the local smartphone market. The outlet, which has been developed in association with local retailer Slot Nigeria, has been opened at Computer Village, Ikeja. Despite the company's focus on Nigeria, its African headquarters remains in Johannesburg. Global marketing of other smartphones is likely to drive down prices in Africa and Google has already set a target of selling 200m of its Android phones on the continent.

Improved services for Nigeria

There has been some debate over whether Nigerian telecoms operators should make steady improvement in mobile capacity or seek to leapfrog technological stages. ZTE has announced that it will now work alongside Etisalat in Nigeria on improving 3G services. ZTE business consultant Ahtasham Rabbani told a workshop in Abuja: "To survive in the big data era, operators need to size the business model and build a strong, smart and cost efficient network. To develop the 3G connections involves a terminal strategy and hi-tech services. The 3G package needs to be explored a lot in Nigeria."

However, Etisalat, based in the United Arab Emirates, must continue to compete with bigger players in the Nigerian market, including Nigeria's own Globacom and MTN of South Africa. Nigeria has overtaken South Africa as the continent's biggest telecoms market and the number of subscribers is likely to break through the 100m barrier in the near future. Of course, many more prosperous Nigerians hold multiple subscriptions and so there is still scope for further growth in a population of about 150m.

MTN Group has announced that it will spend R7bn ($114m) on improving its South African operations in 2013. The 40% rise on last year's figure seems to be designed to help fund the launch of 4G technology in the country's biggest cities, despite the fact that 3G currently stands at just 65%. On 10th October, Vodacom, majority owned by the UK's Vodafone, launched its first commercial 4G long-term evolution (LTE) service in South Africa. LTE, which is one of the main 4G standards, has been launched in Johannesburg, with other urban areas to follow.

The new chief executive of Vodacom, Shameel Joosub, said: "Vodacom was the first network in South Africa to test 4G LTE more than two years ago, and since then we have been busy upgrading base stations and our fibre-optic transmission network in preparation for today. It is great to claim another South African first and even more pleasing that South Africa has joined an exclusive club with the fastest mobile connectivity on offer."

Vodacom now has more than 50m subscribers in Africa. It is the biggest operator in South Africa but rival MTN Group is the bigger across the African continent as a whole. However, Vodacom is looking to expand. Joosub commented: "We are more confident about more expansion opportunities. We do have an appetite to go, more than previously."

Cell C, South Africa's third-biggest operator after MTN and Vodacom, is the latest to cut its prices in a bid to increase market share. Its current initiative is attracting 700,000 new customers a month, most of them pre-paid subscribers, taking its subscriber base up to 9m, or 13% of the market, by September.

The former chief executive of Vodacom, Alan Knott-Craig, took the helm at Cell C in May and is using $180m from shareholders to improve geographical coverage. He commented: "We would have to raise some more, but it is not new money to be raised, it is money that was already being arranged. One thing is sure, we would have to spend some money to make more money. Job number one at Cell C is fixing the company, and the company needs a lot of fixing."

Despite the financial benefits of an active telecoms sector, conflict between operators and governments occurs in many countries. For instance, the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) announced in September that it would fine MTN Rwanda, which dominates the domestic market, for poor quality "on call completion rate, speech quality, signal strength and other measures". Rwanda has 4.9m mobile telecoms subscribers, including 3.1m MTN Rwanda customers, as the market continues to grow rapidly.

The number of subscribers in Rwanda increased by 50% in 2010 alone, However, MTN disputes the imposition of the RF3m ($4,767) a day fee for each day of alleged poor service, arguing: "despite hitches that sometimes might be beyond our control - like fibre cuts, our network is operating within all key performance indicators in our licence obligations". Tigo Rwanda, which is owned by Millicom International Cellular, has also been warned about its services but not fined.

Whatever the merits of the RURA argument, Kigali's strategy of turning Rwanda into an IT hub is certainly yielding benefits in terms of infrastructure and education levels. In its recent measuring the Information Society 2012 report, the ITU calculated that Rwanda had the most improved information and communications technology (ICT) in Africa over the previous 12 months.

The survey, which considered levels of ICT access, skills and use, ranked the Seychelles as the best-equipped ICT nation on the continent, followed by Mauritius, South Africa and Cape Verde, in that order. Although not all African states were assessed, the performance of Congo-Brazzaville had declined most and Niger had the worst ICT sector overall of those countries that were analysed, followed by Chad, Central African Republic, Eritrea and Burkina Faso.

By its very nature, the telecoms sector enables companies from many different countries to invest in different markets. This prevents any one region from dominating. The mobile telecoms market is one sector where Chinese companies have not entered Africa en masse. Nevertheless, the Ethiopian Communication and Information Technology Company announced that it had awarded a $1.3bn contract to upgrade its telecoms infrastructure to ZTE and Huawei Technologies. A spokesperson for the Ethiopian firm said: "Both companies will be engaged... and will have a share in the market. They will finance the project aimed at doubling the number of mobile-phone users to 40m by mid-2015." n

'The past year has seen continued and almost universal growth in ICT uptake. The surge in numbers of mobile broadband subscriptions in developing countries has brought the internet to a multitude of new users' Brahima Sanou, the director of the nternational Telecommunication Union. 4.9m Rwanda has 4.9m mobile telecoms subscribers, including 3.1m MTN Rwanda customers, as the market continues to grow rapidly

Infrastructure

Telecoms towers under attack

One of the main advantages of mobile telecoms over landline technology is the reduced cost of providing infrastructure. However, mobile phone towers are now being targeted by militants in northern Nigeria, in a strategy that the industry fears could be copied elsewhere on the continent by disgruntled groups. Radical Islamists Boko Haram have attacked more than 30 towers across a wide swath of Nigeria, from Borno in the east to Kano in the west.

A spokesperson for the group said that it had "launched attacks on mobile phone company establishments because of the help they are giving to security agents". It claimed that mobile operators had passed information on to the security services to help them track down Boko Haram members. The cost of each tower and associated equipment is estimated at $1-1.5m.

This is not the first time that telecoms services have been targeted. The government of Hosni Mubarak shut down mobile communications in Egypt last year in an effort to disrupt cooperation among protesting groups. In addition, it is estimated that about 20% of Libya's mobile telecoms towers were severely damaged or destroyed during that country's civil war.

In a more positive development, tower sharing is becoming a popular option to reduce the cost of mobile infrastructure. Charles Green, the chief executive of Helios Towers Africa, supports the move. He says: "The timing is right because of the infrastructure investment deficit in most sub-Saharan African markets. Unless telecoms infrastructure investment in Africa increases, it will be impossible to serve the burgeoning levels of consumer demand for 2G voice, let alone the site densification required for 3G coverage, improved capacity and the rapid growth in data traffic. It has been estimated that without an increase in the sharing of infrastructure, the number of telecoms towers will have to double over the next five years from 75,000 to 150,000, and that is just for 2G traffic."

Al Bawaba Ltd.

Prof. Makame Mbarawa

COSTS of making mobile phone calls have been reduced by 37 per cent in the past three years, after introduction of national fibre optic network through the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB).

Addressing the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) 8th National Congress in Dodoma, the minister for communication, science and technology, Prof Makame Mbarawa, said currently the cost for talking for one minute is 59/-. He said that a minute in 2009 cost 147/-, while when people call a different mobile operator the cost for a minute is currently 137/-.

NICTBB is already connected to major submarine cables of SEACOM (July 2009) and EASSY (April 2010) extending the connectivity to neighbouring countries. The virtual landing stations of the submarine cables through the NICTBB have been established at the respective cross-border points of Rwanda (Rusumo station), Uganda (Mtukula station), Malawi (Kasumulo station), Zambia (Tunduma station) and Kenya (Namanga, Sirari and Horohoro stations).

Prof Mbarawa further said that the government has introduced universal communication fund to facilitate telecommunication to communities in areas with less business attractions and that all areas will be covered by 2014. "So far 3,000 villages do have access to cellular network services as most operators shun them (villages) because of less business attraction," he said.

He observed that the government will introduce the Telecommunications Monitoring System (TMS) which is aimed at tracking the amount of money generated by cellular network companies in December, this year. The system to be administered by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) will facilitate the government's ability to monitor revenues earned by telecommunications' companies.
Prof Mbarawa also said the Mbeya Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) has been upgraded to a university status (Mbeya University of Science and Technology -MUST-) and that a total of 235 Tanzanian students are currently undertaking undergraduate and postgraduate courses at Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology in Arusha.

Tanzania Daily News

Dar es Salaam, Stiff competition in the telecoms industry recorded a mixed trend among operators as Zantel emerged the best performer in the second quarter while the market leader – Vodacom Tanzania – lost some subscribers.

Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) telecoms quarterly report indicates that Zantel recorded the highest number of subscriptions after attaining a 17 per cent growth rate, followed by Airtel Tanzania (2.3 per cent), Tigo 0.9 per cent , while Vodacom Tanzania recorded a -2 per cent.

Zantel saw its subscriptions swell to 2.35 million by June 2012, from 1.51 million recorded in March this year, being an  increase of 845,628 subscriptions  in a period of three months. However, Vodacom remained on top in terms of market share which also experienced some changes.

The market share for Vodacom Tanzania stood at 44 per cent – a three per cent drop from 47 per cent recoded in March this year, Airtel Tanzania 27 per cent, up from 26 recorded in March, Tigo at  20 per cent with no change as  of March while Zantel stood at 8 per cent up from 6 per cent recorded in March this year.

Tanzania has continued to record unprecedented growth in voice telecom subscription, now hitting 28.03 million, according to the recently released Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) telecoms quarterly report.

This is a four per cent increase in a period of three months as from March 31 – which stood at 26.97 million to 28.02 million subscriptions by June 30 this year. The available data from the regulator, shows that there was an increase of 1,046,175 subscriptions in a period of three months (four per cent ) down from 1,847,648 subscriptions  (7.15 per cent) recorded in March 31 this year.

By Sturmius  Mtweve
The Citizen Reporter

On the research carried out by by InterMedia Survey Institute with Synovate and Ricochet Research on Tanzania mobile money systems between September and November 2011 quarter one report found that large part of the mobile money users in Tanzania they are using M-Pesa services than other service providers, followed by Tigo Pesa.

The study found out that 91 percent of the Mobile Money users have awareness on M-Pesa services while 20 percent of them have used the service at least once. The study was carried out on individuals who are above the age of 15 in different areas of Tanzania city and provinces. The only Mobile Money service operated by the Bank to emerge in the study was NMB Pesa Fasta the mobile money (banking) service which is provided by the local bank National Microfinance Bank (NMB) to its customers. 

The other Tanzania Mobile Giant Tigo with their mobile money service “Tigo Pesa” found itself on second place with 65 percent of Tanzania having awareness of the services and 5 percent of them actually are using the service. Others included in the research are Zantel with their service Zantel (Z-Pesa ) and Airtel Money. The general awareness of all the service according to the study 93 percent of the people is aware of the service and only 24 percent of them are actually using the service.

 

The Introduction of Mobile Money services have been a great achievement of the mobile companies in Tanzania and as the service grow the number of customers using the service intensify. The ease of access of money, efficiency and flexibility of the service are among the major contributors  of the success of the service in Tanzania although more effort should be invested in making sure the number of users increase tremendously. For More Details on the survey see the PDF file.

TECH360 Correspondent

On the research carried out by by InterMedia Survey Institute with Synovate and Ricochet Research on Tanzania mobile money systems between September and November 2011 quarter one report found that large part of the mobile money users in Tanzania they are using M-Pesa services than other service providers, followed by Tigo Pesa.

The study found out that 91 percent of the Mobile Money users have awareness on M-Pesa services while 20 percent of them have used the service at least once. The study was carried out on individuals who are above the age of 15 in different areas of Tanzania city and provinces. The only Mobile Money service operated by the Bank to emerge in the study was NMB Pesa Fasta the mobile money (banking) service which is provided by the local bank National Microfinance Bank (NMB) to its customers. 

The other Tanzania Mobile Giant Tigo with their mobile money service “Tigo Pesa” found itself on second place with 65 percent of Tanzania having awareness of the services and 5 percent of them actually are using the service. Others included in the research are Zantel with their service Zantel (Z-Pesa ) and Airtel Money. The general awareness of all the service according to the study 93 percent of the people is aware of the service and only 24 percent of them are actually using the service.

 

The Introduction of Mobile Money services have been a great achievement of the mobile companies in Tanzania and as the service grow the number of customers using the service intensify. The ease of access of money, efficiency and flexibility of the service are among the major contributors  of the success of the service in Tanzania although more effort should be invested in making sure the number of users increase tremendously. For More Details on the survey see the PDF file.

TECH360 Correspondent

Zantel Tanzania has introduced 3G Media Pad (Huawei) for Internet Users. Zantel is the FIRST operator in Zanzibar to introduce 3G Network and now they are introducing 3G Media Pads (Huawei). 

The features of the media pad will include; Free 500 Mb Data, Wifi/HSPA/HSPA+ max 14.4Mbps/Bluetooth, 7” screen with WXGA (1280 x 800 pixels), IPS Screen, 217dpi, 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, MIC, Micro SD/SIM card Slot, GPS/A-GPS and 3.7V  4100mAh Battery

 Media Pads are available at the Zantel Shops only Zanzibar Shop (Vuga) and Zantel HQ Dar es Salaam.  The 3G Media Pad will be sold @ Tsh 750,000 (incl VAT & Tax).

Huawei Tablet can be used for getting all Zantel internet services and the user can subscribe either online http://www.zantel.com/ezyrecharge or by dialing the short code *149*07# 

Other Devices are also available in limited stocks:

Samsung Tablet: Tsh. 775,000 (Available in Zantel Shops – Zanzibar & Dar Main)

Ipad2 16GB: Tsh. 1,176,000 (Available in Zantel Shops – Zanzibar & Dar Main)

Ipad2 32GB: Tsh. 1,336,000 (Available in Zantel Shops – Zanzibar & Dar Main)

3G modems 7.2Mbps: Tsh.30,000 (Available in Zanzibar shops only)

3G Modems 21Mbps: Tsh. 60,000 (Available in Zanzibar shops only)

For further information and enquiries on Zantel 3G Media Pad (Huawei) and Zantel Internet Service bundles a customer can check them out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Zanteltanzania Also customers can send an email to ezynet@zantel.co.tz (this is for all Data Queries).

For additional information on Zantel 3G Huawei Tablet send an email to ezynet@zantel.co.tz or call customer care at 100.

TECH360 Correspondent