Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Market Insights, Statistics and Forecasts- Tanzania

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Market Insights, Statistics and Forecasts- Tanzania

M-payment platforms gain traction with co-operation from banks

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Tanzania's telecommunications market.

Subjects covered include:

Key statistics;
Market and industry overviews;
Government policies affecting the telecoms industry;
Market liberalisation and regulatory issues;
Telecoms operators privatisation, acquisitions, new licences;
Major players (fixed, mobile and broadband);
Infrastructure development;
Mobile voice and data markets, including 3G;
Internet development and pricing;
Broadband, including 3G mobile;
Convergence (voice/data, fixed/wireless/mobile).
Average Revenue per User (ARPU).

Tanzania's economy has been showing solid growth rates of between 5% and 8% every year since 2000, despite the global economic crisis which has affected many economies since 2008. For the period 2013-2017, the International Monetary Fund predicts stable GDP growth at around 7% per annum.

The government has actively embraced the principles of competition and a private sector including foreign participation as a means of rapidly advancing economic and social development. Policy reforms have led to the telecom sector becoming among the most liberal in Africa. However, high import tariffs on telecoms equipment and taxes on telephone facilities by various authorities are still placing a burden on investors and operators.

Tanzania has two fixed-line operators (TTCL and Zantel) and eight operational mobile networks, with four additional players licensed under a new converged regulatory regime. With four major operators Vodacom, Bharti Airtel (formerly Zain), Tigo and Zantel mobile penetration is approaching 70%, with annual subscriber growth of more than 20%. In recent years a price war among these players has adversely affected the smaller operators, which have suffered from customer churn.

The new converged licensing regime has brought a large number of new players into the market. The liberalisation of voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telephony as well as the introduction of third and fourth generation (3G, 4G) mobile services and wireless broadband networks is boosting the internet sector which has been hampered by the low level of development of the traditional fixed-line network.

Following the launch of 3G mobile broadband services, the mobile networks are becoming the country's leading internet service providers on the back of their extensive national infrastructure and existing subscriber bases in the voice market. Operators are hoping for revenue growth in the mobile data services market, given that the voice market is almost entirely prepaid and voice ARPU continues to fall. To this end they have invested in network upgrades, with both Vodacom and Smile Communications developing services based on Long-term Evolution (LTE) technology. A fast developing source of revenue is from mobile money transfer and m-banking services. In mid-2013 Bharti Airtel estimated that in Tanzania over 10% of GDP is transacted through mobile commerce.

In March 2013 the regulator reduced interconnection rates by 70%. Combined with a stringent registration policy, requiring new customers to have a physical ID, the reduced rates dampened growth in the number of mobile subscribers for some operators.

The landing of the first fibre optic international submarine cables in the country in recent years has revolutionised the market which up to that point completely depended on expensive satellite connections. In parallel, the government has switched on the first phase of a national fibre backbone network to connect population centres around the country. However, the cost of international internet bandwidth has so far not come down by as much and not as quickly as expected.

Estimated market penetration rates in Tanzania's telecoms sector June 2014

Market | Penetration rate
Mobile | 77%
Fixed | 0.3%
Internet | 17%
(Source: BuddeComm based on various sources)

Market highlights:

Zantel extends 3G services to mainland Tanzania; AzamTV reports 34,000 satellite TV subscribers within three months of launch; Etisalat increases stake in ZanTel to 80%; low ARPU encouraging mobile operators to develop mobile data and commerce services; regulator sets voice interconnection rates to 2017; government allocates TZS17.5 billion ($10.8 million) to improve rural telecom infrastructure; Smile Communications trials VoLTE services; government reviews ICT policy, considers measures to tackle cybercrime; Tigo integrates M-Pesa service with 17 major banks; Airtel, Zantel and Tigo agreed to allow customers to send money to each other using their various transfer systems; TTCL opens a new microwave link connecting Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, doubling data capacity; Telecommunication Traffic Monitoring System delivering about $1 million in incoming international call taxes monthly; report update includes regulator's market data to June 2014, recent market developments.

Companies covered in this report:

Tanzania Telecommunications Company (TTCL); Zanzibar Telecommunications Corporation (Zantel); Vodacom Tanzania; Bharti Airtel (Zain); Millicom (Tigo); Benson Informatics Limited (BOL); Sasatel (Dovetel); Africa Online; Raha.com; Tele2; Alink; SatCom Networks; SimbaNet; Afsat; Cats-Net.