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Tanzania Telecoms target universal coverage
MAJOR telecoms have been approved to provide their services to 112 wards being part of a government drive to provide universal telecommunication.
Vodacom, Airtel and Tigo and TTCL will provide telecommunications services to 102 wards which are un-served or underserved for a total subsidy of 7.6 million US dollars (14.2bn/-) and another 10 wards located in border areas and special zones for 1.5 million US dollars (2.7bn/-).
The subsidies have been provided to attract the operators to move to the areas which currently do not attract private investment in telecommunication service.
Representatives of the telecommunication companies signed the agreement with the Chief Executive Officer of the Universal Communications Service Access Fund, Mr Peter Ulanga, in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.
The agreement signed on Tuesday followed a similar one signed in 2014 where the mobile telephone companies won tender to provide telecommunication services to 86 wards and another one in 2013 where 52 wards were involved.
“This is a good progress towards our goal of universal telecommunication service in the country. We hope next time more wards, perhaps 300 will be covered,” said the Minister for Communication, Science & Technology, Prof. Makame Mbarawa.
The communication operators had been invited to bid for tenders to provide communication services to 158 wards in a project involving 26.28bn/- (14.21 million US dollars).
A total of 158 wards (lots) were floated in a set of currently un-served or under-served wards within the country and 102 lots were bid successfully.
Tigo will cover 42 wards where it will receive 3.145bn/- as subsidies to move to the areas. Vodacom will go to 36 wards and will receive 6.33bn/- as subsidies.
TTCL won 19 wards and will receive 4.15bn/- as subsidies while Airtel has been approved to cover five wards and will get 566m/- as subsidies.
The mobile operators also will provide telecommunication services to 10 wards in border and special zone areas where Vodacom has two wards and will be entitled for 804.7m/- as subsidies, Tigo will go to 5 wards and will receive 985m/- as subsidies and Airtel will provide telecommunication service to three wards and will get 984.9m/- as subsidies.
Meanwhile, the Universal Communications Service Access Fund signed agreement with the Avant Communications to connect 250 public schools with internet and also establishing 25 ICT academic centres in various areas in the country.
source:dailynews
TTCL targets higher competitiveness
THE country’s telecom giant, the Tanzania Telecommunication Company Limited (TTCL), has awakened. And this time around it wants to concentrate on retail business apart from corporate customers.
To realise its dream, the stateowned firm has embarked on a project to build a sophisticated quality 4G (LTE) Long Term Evolution, 3G and 2G networks.
The project will equip TTCL with a state-of-the-art technology that will help to expand and provide mobile telephone services across the entire country at relatively affordable rates.
TTCL’s Chief of Sales and Marketing, Mr Peter Ngota, said by July the firm will start offering mobile phone services using 3G and 4G’s network.
“Previously we concentrated on corporate customers but come July we want to offer 100 per cent mobile services in the country,” Mr Ngota said.
The coming of TTCL, which backed its services using ICT fibre-optic cable network, will bring a new price impetus among tele-service providers as some of them are connected to the state owned network.
Mr Ngota said for many years TTCL concentrated on serving corporate clients, despite having a platform to also provide services to retail customers.
This is not the first time for TTCL to venture into mobile telephone business. In 2003 it awarded Huawei, a global vendor, a contract to supply CDMA2000 network covering the entire country.
The project commenced in 2006. Along with the contract Huawei delivered an Intelligent Network platform which enabled the company to introduce value added services such as prepaid services, a voice mail system, a short message service and billing system allowing postpaid services.
Last month again, TTCL signed a 182-million US dollars deal with China’s Huawei Technologies to upgrade and expand its fixed and wireless networks. TTCL will now become the only firm in the country to operate GSM and CDMA2000 technologies.
Others are operating GSM technology only. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile phones.
CDMA 2000 (also known as C2K or IMT Multi-Carrier (IMTMC)) is a family of 3G mobile technology standards, which use CDMA channel access, to send voice, data, and signalling data between mobile phones and cell sites.
The name CDMA2000 actually denotes a family of standards that represent the successive, evolutionary stages of the underlying technology.
The TTCL Chief Executive Officer, Dr Kamugisha Kazaura, said the technologies would help the company offer higher quality data services at all fronts. This new agreement between Huawei and TTCL is part of the latter management efforts to improve services and expand them to more people across the country.
For instance, TTCL won a contract to take telecommunications services to over 65 wards that make up over 400 villages with over 500,000 people.
The 10-million-USdollars contract requires TTCL to take telecommunication services to rural areas under Universal Communications Service Access Fund (UCSAF).
UCSAF promotes the participation of the public and private sector in the provision of universal communication services to the rural and urban under served areas.
The Fund also want telecom firms to create a framework for an open and efficient access to and use of communication networks and service in production and availability of competitive market.
TTCL, which handles the national fibre-optic cable network also termed as the National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB), said currently almost all Tanzania’s neighbours were at their subscription docket.
Those under TTCL dockets are Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia and Malawi through the fire-optic cable. Through the NICTBB, Tanzania has been connected with East Africa’s submarine cable networks including SEACOM, EASSY and SEAS.
The TTCL’s ambition to conquer mobile phone market is cemented after Bharti Airtel, which was holding 35 per cent stake surrendered it to the state-run firm.
This means that TTCL has now taken 100 per cent control of the firm starting last week. Now the government can inject more funds for the company’s development, thus making it effectively offer services to its customers.
Financially, the company is sound. In 2010 it generated about 80bn/- and in 2013, the company’s revenue increased to 93bn/-.
In this year, Dr Kazaura said, the firm’s businesses is expected to increase by 50 per cent. TTCL’s main business is networking firms via broadband, internet bandwidth and wholesale administration.
So far TTCL has signed projects worth 15bn/- this year. Last year it had projects worth 10bn/-.
Source:DailyNews
The State owned Tanzania Telecommunications Limited TTCL, yesterday inked a 328bn/- or 182 million dollars deal with Huawei Technologies
THE State owned Tanzania Telecommunications Limited TTCL, yesterday inked a 328bn/- or 182 million dollars deal with Huawei Technologies aimed at helping the national telephone communication build its landline and mobile ICT networks.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Dar es Salaam, the TTCL Chief Executive Oficer, Dr Kamugisha Kazaura, said the first phase of the project will be completed by June, this year.
He noted that the projects in the deal involve building of a 4G Long Term Evolution, 3G UMTS and 2G GSM, technologies which will help TTCL to expand its services across the entire country at more sophisticated quality.
He pointed out that the technologies would help the company offer higher quality data services. The agreement involves procurement of equipment to take telecommunication services to rural areas under Universal Communications Service Access Fund (UCSAF).
UCSAF has been established by Universal Communications Service Access Act, 2006, with the key objective of fostering social and economic development in rural and urban areas through ICT intervention.
Other Objectives of Fund’s establishment include ensuring the availability of communication services in rural and urban underserved areas.
Dr Kamugisha said TTCL has won the contract to take telecommunications services to 69 wards that make up over 400 villages with over 500,000 residents.
Under the UCSAF project, TTCL will get 10 million US dollars for construction of infrastructure in earmarked wards. The agreement between Huawei and TTCL is part of the latter management efforts to improve services and expand them to reach more people across the country.
In a comprehensive plan that seeks to take advantage of the resilience of Tanzania’s National ICT Broadband Backbone, TTCL has recently won deals to sell more gigabytes of internet bandwidth as a commodity to neighbouring countries.
The nation has already closed a 6.7 million dollar, 10-year deal to supply 1.244 gigabytes of internet bandwidth to Rwanda. This means Tanzania becomes the first country in the region to start selling internet bandwidth to other East African Community (EAC) states thanks to the laying of the international submarine fibre-optic cable.
The deal was hailed as testimony to the firm’s growing international reputation. The deal is the biggest of its kind in Tanzania and the region in general.
Under the deal, TTCL is expected to test, install, configure, commission and activate a temporary link with 155 megabytes bandwidth per second by the end of this month.
The state-owned telecommunications firm’s chief said the government’s vision to transform the country into a communication hub for Africa is now within reach.
Source: DailyNews
Mobile network capacity set to double
NEC Corporation, a Japanese multinational provider of information technology (IT) services and products, has announced it is upgrading microwave links on behalf of the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) connecting six key rural and island locations in the country.
The work is expected to double mobile network capacity and meet demand from local citizens, enterprises and tourists in a deal worth US $1.6 million.
The government has already inaugurated the route from Dar es Salaam, the main economic centre of the country, to the island resort of Zanzibar.
Further connections from Shinyanga to Maswa in the north and Mikumi to Kidatu in southern Tanzania are planned to open shortly.
TTCL is using NEC's iPASOLINK 400, 1000 and 5000iPS solutions which support a hybrid TDM and IP-based mobile backhaul service.
This enables the operator to continue to leverage investments in existing legacy TDM systems for voice traffic and use high speed, high capacity Ethernet for data with the option of transitioning to an all-IP network to enable highly efficient long haul transmissions in the future.
The solution can also support the expansion of LTE network services when required with minimal capacity upgrades, in addition to the 3G networks of today.
It features Ethernet OAM (Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) for performance monitoring and fault isolation and troubleshooting to ensure system resilience, uptime and deliver a consistently high QoS (Quality of Service).
The Minister of Communication, Science and Technology, Prof Makame Mbarawa said the latest mobile infrastructure upgrades were a key part of the important work the Tanzanian government was undertaking to deliver the Vision 2025 programme and use the latest communication technologies as a tool for sustainable development.
"We're pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with NEC to support the needs of communities and entrepreneurial businesses throughout the country."
Prof Mbarawa is quoted by the Market Watch journal. The Managing Director at NEC Africa, Eugene Le Roux, commented, "Tanzanian citizens will see a noticeable difference in the mobile network's capacity to handle even more web browsing and m-commerce transactions as a result of this upgrade.
NEC has been providing innovative technologies to Tanzania Telecommunications Company for over forty years and we're delighted their customers will continue to benefit from our latest high speed, future-proofed mobile backhaul solutions."
Wireless mobile backhaul, with onward transport via Ethernet to the core network, is essential in Africa to extend mobile broadband services to remote areas where it's not possible to make fibre available.
It helps to ensure high speed, cost-effective service coverage in difficult terrains and across geographic barriers like islands or mountains.
The Dar es Salaam link supports Fast Ethernet (FE) and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) interfaces with packet switching capacity of 40 to 48 Gigabits per second (Gbps) for rapid mobile data transfer with smart bandwidth and capacity utilisation and management.
Demand for mobile broadband is growing strongly to support key industries like agriculture, giving businesses access to market prices, weather forecasts and agronomy information at the touch of a button.
This is in addition to enabling rural populations to access to public services like a new birth registration website to support accurate assessments of local demand for education and social services.
Tanzania has high mobile penetration rate of 75 per cent as of the end of December 2013, but just 14 per cent of people have fixed internet at home and a minority of 0.4 per cent own a landline according to Budde.com.
Already 10 per cent of Tanzania's GDP is transacted through mobile commerce. NEC has been supplying telecom technologies to TTCL since 1972, including over 29,000 microwave backhaul radio units to date.
TTCL is majority owned by the Tanzanian government with a 35 per cent stake held by the Indian-headquartered operator Airtel.
Source:Dailynews
TTCL to construct office in Pemba
IN a bid to expand services to many parts of the country, Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) has commissioned a project to construct a building valued at 1.2bn/- at Madungu, Chakechake, Pemba Islands.
The Head of Technical Department at the company, Mr Jothan Lujara told journalists in Pemba recently that the company had ventured into the project as a way of strengthening its position in the Isles and improve services to customers.
"We have been renting for a long time, this building will help cut costs and assure us of permanent offices here," he said.
He said 1.1bn/- had been set aside for a contractor while 93m/- has been set aside for a consultant. "The whole cost for a one storey building is being financed by TTCL," he noted.
According to Mr Lujara, after the bidding process, MS Quality Building Contractors Limited won as a contractor while MS Inter Consult Ltd won to work as a project consultant.
It is expected that the construction will take eight months to complete and be commissioned at the end of February next year.
The South Pemba Regional Commissioner, Mr Juma Kasim Tindwa, hailed the move, saying that it would help to strengthen telecommunication services in the Isles.
While presenting them with documents to signal official beginning of the project, Mr Tindwa called upon the contractor to do a quality job and on time.
He stressed that quality job and timely completion is some of the virtues that contribute to a good contractor.
He said that he believes the completion of the building will boost the morale of the workers.
Source:Dailynews
Tanzania: NEC upgrades network capacity in $1.6m deal
NEC Corporation today announced that it is upgrading microwave links on behalf of the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) connecting six key rural and island locations in the country to double mobile network capacity and meet demand from local citizens, enterprises and tourists in a deal worth US $1.6 million.
The government has already inaugurated the route from Dar es Salaam, the main economic centre of the country, to the island resort of Zanzibar. Further connections from Shinyanga to Maswa in the north and Mikumi to Kidatu in southern Tanzania are planned to open shortly.
TTCL is using NEC’s iPASOLINK 400, 1000 and 5000iPS solutions which support a hybrid TDM and IP-based mobile backhaul service. This enables the operator to continue to leverage investments in existing legacy TDM systems for voice traffic and use high speed, high capacity Ethernet for data with the option of transitioning to an all-IP network to enable highly efficient long haul transmissions in the future.
The solution can also support the expansion of LTE network services when required with minimal capacity upgrades, in addition to the 3G networks of today. It features Ethernet OAM (Operations, Administration, and Maintenance) for performance monitoring and fault isolation and troubleshooting to ensure system resilience, uptime and deliver a consistently high QoS (Quality of Service).
Makame Mbarawa, minister of communication, science and technology of Tanzania, said, “Our latest mobile infrastructure upgrades are a key part of the important work the Tanzanian government is undertaking to deliver our Vision 2025 programme and use the latest communication technologies as a tool for sustainable development. We’re pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with NEC to support the needs of communities and entrepreneurial businesses throughout the country.”
Wireless mobile backhaul, with onward transport via Ethernet to the core network, is essential in Africa to extend mobile broadband services to remote areas where it’s not possible to make fibre available. It helps to ensure high speed, cost-effective service coverage in difficult terrains and across geographic barriers like islands or mountains. The Dar es Salaam link supports Fast Ethernet (FE) and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) interfaces with packet switching capacity of 40 to 48 Gigabits per second (Gbps) for rapid mobile data transfer with smart bandwidth and capacity utilization and management.
Eugene Le Roux, managing director at NEC Africa, commented, “Tanzanian citizens will see a noticeable difference in the mobile network’s capacity to handle even more web browsing and m-commerce transactions as a result of this upgrade. NEC has been providing innovative technologies to Tanzania Telecommunications Company for over forty years and we’re delighted their customers will continue to benefit from our latest high speed, future-proofed mobile backhaul solutions.”
Demand for mobile broadband is growing strongly to support key industries like agriculture, giving businesses access to market prices, weather forecasts and agronomy information at the touch of a button. This is in addition to enabling rural populations to access to public services like a new birth registration website to support accurate assessments of local demand for education and social services. Tanzania has high mobile penetration rate of 75% as of the end of December 2013, but just 14% of people have fixed internet at home and a minority of 0.4% own a landline according to Budde.com. Already 10% of Tanzania’s GDP is transacted through mobile commerce.
NEC has been supplying telecom technologies to TTCL since 1972, including over 29,000 microwave backhaul radio units to date. TTCL is majority owned by the Tanzanian government with a 35% stake held by the Indian-headquartered operator Airtel
source:ITnews
