Prodigal Son
JF-Expert Member
- Dec 9, 2009
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Telecommunication firms in Tanzania have taken their war for subscribers to calling rates after years of competition based on wide area coverage, quality communications and technology innovation.
According to Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) acting corporate communications manager Victor Nkya, the price war will continue to the benefit of customers with the firms spreading to rural areas to further boost their numbers.
This calling rates-based competition was pioneered three years ago by Tanzania Telecommunication Company (Tigo) which capitalised on low tariff packages to increase its client base from 1,191,678 in 2007 to 4,178,089 customers of last December.
After the introduction of Tigo Xtreme under the longer longa II campaign, where Tigo subscribers were able to call for only Tsh1,500 ($ 1.15) for 12 hours of daytime, the firms subscriber base rose to match that of the big players in the industry.
Last year Tigo introduced Tsh1 ($0.0007) per second followed by Zanzibar Telecomm Company (Zantel), Vodacom Tanzania and last week by Zain Tanzania.
When Vodacom introduced its Tsh1 per second tariff, Tigo came up with Tsh0.50 ($0.0003) per second tariff for its subscribers.
Tigo argued it was doing so to grant their customers freedom to access todays world in a simple manner by giving them as a special tariff they can afford and manage to strive against the social life.
Zain joined the fray last week via a Tsh1 per second tariff for its subscribers while new entrant Sasatel announced a Tsh0.50 ($0.0003) per second tariff .
According to Mr Nkya, off network tariffs might climb-down as cap-price agreed for interconnection charges is $0.65 per minute up to 2012, but firms could agree to charge a zero rate.
Fitting outcome
This fall in rates goes well with the countrys decision not to restrict the number of telephone service providers thereby letting fair competition push the rates down from a high of $1 per minute a decade ago to the Tsh0.50 per second being flaunted by firms all over.
There are 14 licensed telcom operators in Tanzania but only seven have started operations namely TTCL and Zantel as mobile and fixed lines, Zain Tanzania, Tigo, Vodacom, Benson Informatics, and Sasatel.
Vodacom has the largest subscription, with 6,883,661 customers, followed by Zain (4,910,359), Tigo (4,178,089), Zantel (1,378,595), TTCL mobile (115,681), and Benson (3,101). Total registered phone holders are 17,642,408 as at the end of last year.
Those that are yet to start are Six Telecom Company Ltd, ExcellentCom Tanzania Ltd, Rural Netco Ltd, Rural Netco Ltd, Epocha & Golden Ocean (T) Ltd, My Cell Company Ltd, Seacom Tanzania Ltd and Smile Communications Tanzania Ltd.
The communications industry, is now a multibillion-shilling sector led by mobile telephony generating over Tsh2 trillion ($ 1.54 billion) revenues annually.
source; The east african
According to Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) acting corporate communications manager Victor Nkya, the price war will continue to the benefit of customers with the firms spreading to rural areas to further boost their numbers.
This calling rates-based competition was pioneered three years ago by Tanzania Telecommunication Company (Tigo) which capitalised on low tariff packages to increase its client base from 1,191,678 in 2007 to 4,178,089 customers of last December.
After the introduction of Tigo Xtreme under the longer longa II campaign, where Tigo subscribers were able to call for only Tsh1,500 ($ 1.15) for 12 hours of daytime, the firms subscriber base rose to match that of the big players in the industry.
Last year Tigo introduced Tsh1 ($0.0007) per second followed by Zanzibar Telecomm Company (Zantel), Vodacom Tanzania and last week by Zain Tanzania.
When Vodacom introduced its Tsh1 per second tariff, Tigo came up with Tsh0.50 ($0.0003) per second tariff for its subscribers.
Tigo argued it was doing so to grant their customers freedom to access todays world in a simple manner by giving them as a special tariff they can afford and manage to strive against the social life.
Zain joined the fray last week via a Tsh1 per second tariff for its subscribers while new entrant Sasatel announced a Tsh0.50 ($0.0003) per second tariff .
According to Mr Nkya, off network tariffs might climb-down as cap-price agreed for interconnection charges is $0.65 per minute up to 2012, but firms could agree to charge a zero rate.
Fitting outcome
This fall in rates goes well with the countrys decision not to restrict the number of telephone service providers thereby letting fair competition push the rates down from a high of $1 per minute a decade ago to the Tsh0.50 per second being flaunted by firms all over.
There are 14 licensed telcom operators in Tanzania but only seven have started operations namely TTCL and Zantel as mobile and fixed lines, Zain Tanzania, Tigo, Vodacom, Benson Informatics, and Sasatel.
Vodacom has the largest subscription, with 6,883,661 customers, followed by Zain (4,910,359), Tigo (4,178,089), Zantel (1,378,595), TTCL mobile (115,681), and Benson (3,101). Total registered phone holders are 17,642,408 as at the end of last year.
Those that are yet to start are Six Telecom Company Ltd, ExcellentCom Tanzania Ltd, Rural Netco Ltd, Rural Netco Ltd, Epocha & Golden Ocean (T) Ltd, My Cell Company Ltd, Seacom Tanzania Ltd and Smile Communications Tanzania Ltd.
The communications industry, is now a multibillion-shilling sector led by mobile telephony generating over Tsh2 trillion ($ 1.54 billion) revenues annually.
source; The east african