Telecommunication in Tanzania

In Tanzania, Telecommunication include

• Radio
• Television
• Fixed telephones
• Mobile telephones
• Internet

All these means are available in mainland Tanzania and the semiautonomous Zanzibar archipelago.

Licencing and Regulation

In 2005, mainland Tanzania, modified its licensing system for electronic communications from "vertical" licenses (the right to operate a telecom or a broadcasting network, and right to provide services on that network) to "horizontal" licenses (the right to operate telecom and broadcasting networks, with a separate license required to provide services on each network). also known as the "Converged Licensing Framework (CLF). Tanzania was the first country on the African continent to implement this reform. Tanzania borrowed the idea from Malaysia which had emplemented it in the late 1990.

Converged Licensing Framework (CLF) allowed investors to concentrate on their area of expertise (i.e. network facility, network services, application services, and content services) across a larger number of previously separate sectors (i.e. telecommunications, broadcasting, Internet).

Under the Converged Licensing Framework four categories of license are available:

1. Network facility, the provision of any element or combination of physical infrastructure used principally for, or in connection with, the provision of Content services and other Application services, but not including customer premises equipment;
2. Network service, a service for carrying information in the form of speech or other sound, data, text or images, by means of guided or unguided electromagnetic energy, but not including services provided solely on the customer side of the network boundary;
3. Application service, the reselling of electronic communication services to end users;
4. Content service, a service offered for sound, data, text or images whether still or moving except where transmitted on private communication.

At the end of 2013 there were:

• 21 network facility operators: 8 international and national, 11 national, and 2 regional;
• 17 network service operators: 8 international and national, 6 national, and 3 regional;
• 91 application service operators: 1 international, 15 international and national, 62 national, 11 regional, and 2 district;
• 85 radio content service operators: 6 national + commercial, 10 regional + commercial, 7 regional + non-commercial, 30 district + commercial, and 29 district + non-commercial;
• 30 television content service operators: 5 national + commercial, 4 regional + commercial, 1 regional + non-commercial, 6 district + commercial, and 17 district + non-commercial.
• A complete list of licensed operators and contractors is available from the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) website

Population        Fixed penetration       Mobile penetration      Total Subscribers               Total Access lines

28.21 million     (2016) 0.90%           136.34%                      28,094,823                         38,556,568

Radio

In 2007, there was a state-owned national radio station and more than 40 privately owned radio stations are in operation. Since then the number of radio stations has also increased, click here for more details on radio in Tanzania.

Television

In 2007, a state-owned TV station and multiple privately owned TV stations were in operation. Since then the number of radio stations has also increased, click here for more details on Television in Tanzania.

Telephones

• Calling code: +255
• International call prefix: 000
• Fixed lines: Total subscription 161,100 lines(2011) and 133rd in the world (2011). Today, total subscriptions is 142,819 (2017) and 139th to the world. Click for more...
• Mobile cellular: 27.2 million lines(2012) and 39th in the world (2012). Today, total subscriptions is 39.666 million and 37th to the world. Click for more...

Tanzania Telecom Operators