For the past six years the number of people going online has doubled in Tanzania, from 9 million in 2013 to over 23 million people in 2019, TCRA reports indicates.
Mobile Networks Services providers have also taken a bite in the success by offering the best communications technological capabilities, such as the 4G LTE data network that improved tremendously connectivity in Tanzania.
Earlier this year, President John Magufuli witnessed the official ownership of the Telecom Traffic Monitoring System (TTMS) to TCRA, being one of the powerful tools in TCRA arsenal that properly oversee, protect and promote the telecom industry in Tanzania that generates billions for revenue.
Available data indicate TCRA had garner over US $ 41.7 million as revenue via the effective application of the TTMS.
Read: Experts predict growth in technology, media and telecommunications in 2019
Mobile Network Operators have also taken a bite out of the communications sphere in Tanzania, whereby state of the art communications structures has amplified e-commerce and help narrow the digital divide.
Vodacom Tanzania, Tigo, Airtel and TTCL state owned telecom have both have a fair share of the communications sphere in Tanzania, offering particularly tailored data usage experience “internet bundles” for every one with a smartphone or computer to get interconnected.
According to a Household Baseline Survey 2017/18 it shows 78 percent of households own a mobile phone, while Financial Sector Deepening Trust Sector (FSDT) 2017, indicate 63 percent of adults in Tanzania own a mobile phone, thus these circumstances can lead Tanzania to an equal playing field in enhancing e-commerce and inter-connectivity.
In an interview with a local digital-media outlet in January 18th, TCRA Director General, Eng. James Kilaba, state clearly that TTMS main operational mission was to monitor national and international use of mobile communications, in text, voice and data to foster better communication services for socio-economic development.
“We want to identify all revenue generated from mobile communication services. The systems will certainly give us the ability to comprehend overall communications affairs national wide” he added.
Across Tanzania, inter-connectivity has taken shape in its own way. Mobile phones companies such as Tecno, with 33.7 percent vendor market share have been forging robust marketing strategies, gaining customers and empower local people with powerful mobile phones not make calls, send texts, but more importantly execute their finances and go online.
In that context, data from StatsCounter, substantiate the latter, Tanzania’s social media market share is diverse, Facebook share is at 54.36 percent, Twitter 14.27 percent, YouTube 6.23 percent and 4.06 on Instagram.
Internet penetration has made social media a powerful tool that connects people and now more than ever, Tanzanians rely on it to for marketing their products and services.
Further, search engines rather provide Tanzanians with significant capacities to fetch and disseminate information. Hence, numbers show 94.31 percent of internet users go live on google.com compared to 19.6 percent in 2015.
E-commerce and Fintech stand a chance to vitalize the digital economy in Tanzania, as more people get connected seamlessly and digital devices penetrate into periphery areas of the nations, proves significant investment in the telecommunications sector could bear great prospects for Tanzania.