Geza Ulole
JF-Expert Member
- Oct 31, 2009
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With 4m users, Kenya leads EA in access to Internet services
By MICHAEL OUMA
Kenya has the highest number of people accessing Internet facilities and services within the East African Community.
According to a study conducted by TNS Research International in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu from September to November 2010, out of a population of 40 million, about four million (10 per cent) have access to the Internet.
The study, titled "Digital Life" and conducted to establish people's online behaviour and activities, found that in Uganda, out of a population of 33 million, about 3.3 million (10 percent) have a access to the Internet while Tanzania comes last - out of a population of 42 million, only 672,000 people (1.6 per cent) have had an online experience.
The study found that based on an adult sample in each of the covered EAC towns, an average of 45 per cent of the urban population have used the Internet, with Kampala having the highest number at 53 per cent; Arusha and Nairobi at 49 per cent; Mombasa at 42 per cent while Dar es Salaam has the least number of people using the Internet at 31 per cent.
The TNS study revealed that in Kenya, mobile devices and Internet cafes are the primary points of access.
The results of the study show that 60 per cent of Kenyans online use mobile phones as compared with those who use PCs at home (29 per cent); PCs at work (33 per cent); and cyber cafes (41 per cent), thereby indicating high potential for growth in the mobile Internet business in Kenya.
Power of social media
The study found that though e-mail accessing remains the top online activity in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa, usage of Internet for social media and education as well as knowledge access is growing steadily.
"The demography covered frequent users falling within the 16-60 age bracket, which represents the active online population. The study showed huge growth in Internet use, indicating that once Kenyans get online, they are highly engaged," noted Melissa Baker, TNS Research International's East Africa chief executive.
However, the study notes that barriers to Internet access - like lack of Internet-enabled handsets and PCs as well as lack of awareness of the benefits of the Internet - need to be addressed to raise the level of frequency of accessing Internet services as penetration is still low at between 10 and 15 per cent.
The East African: *- Business*|With 4m users, Kenya leads EA in access to Internet services
Tanzania disputes internet user total
By ROSE ATHUMANI, 4th December 2010 @ 12:00, Total Comments: 2, Hits: 768
TANZANIA Communications and Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has disputed a figure showing that the country has only 520,000 internet subscribers. This means the country ranks below Kenya with 7.8 million subscribers.
Tanzania is connected to the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and the SEACOM fibre optic cable system.
The revelations, made by Mr Jabbi Lamin, the adviser to the director general, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) at the 10th Broadcasters conference on Friday, surprised TCRA officials who disputed the figure saying it was too small.
Mr Lamin said that Tanzania has a mobile phone subscriber base of 17 million, while the internet subscriber total stood at 520,000 users as of June 2009.
TCRA's Director of Broadcasting Affairs, Mr Habbi Gunze, said that he was not comfortable with the internet subscriber figure, when more than 17 million people owned mobile phones.
"I am not comfortable with this. We have 17 million mobile phone subscribers some of whom are able to access internet services," he said.
Eng. Andrew Kisaka of TCRA said that there is a need to do research on this in order to ascertain the number of internet and broadband subscribers in the country.
Presenting a paper titled 'Taking Advantage of Broadband Infrastructure to Provide Broadcasting Services in East Africa, Mr Lamin said that Tanzania could do better than Kenya since the potential is much greater.
"We just need to learn what is happening then capitalize on that. I believe that Tanzania can do much better than Kenya since it is on the coastal area," he added.
Kenya will have a mobile subscriber base of about 21 million by the end of 2010. It will also have 18,626 broadband subscribers. Uganda had a 14 million mobile subscribers' base by the end of June 2009 and 2.5 million internet subscribers.
Rwanda had a 3.6 million mobile subscriber base by the end of September, this year and 493,900 internet subscribers as of last June.
Mr Lamin said that as the East African country moves to reap more benefits from broadband, there is a need to have clear policies in this connection -- which are still lacking.
The 10th annual broadcasters' conference brought together more than 150 media stakeholders including operators, owners, Information Communication Technology (ICT) experts and managers from within the country and the neighbouring country.
There was also a participant from South Africa representing Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
The Annual Broadcasters' Conference (ABC) is part of the TCRA workshop where media stakeholders, from within the country and outside, representatives of regulatory bodies, commissions and ICT institutions from neighbouring countries convene annually in the
country to deliberate on issues concerning Broadcasting industry.
This includes consultations, technology change trend, challenges facing the industry and how broadcasting should be managed more efficiently, regulated and operated in the country.
http://www.dailynews.co.tz/home/?n=15122
Tanzanians spend Sh555bn on phone calls in 3 months Send to a friend Monday, 17 January 2011 09:30 digg
By Samuel Kamndaya, The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. Tanzanians spent a staggering Sh555 billion ($396 million) on telephones in three months, according to a new report by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA). That is an average of Sh185 billion per month.
That money was spent between July and September last year, the period covered by the quarterly telecommunications reports drawn by TCRA.
According to the report, the sum comprises cash that left the pockets of about 20,771,487 subscribers who were, by September 2010, receiving services from seven telecommunications companies, namely: Vodacom, Airtel, Tigo, Zantel, TTCL, Sasatel and Benson Informatics (BOL). The subscribers' expenditure cover both voice communications as well as short message services (SMS).
The amount is slightly higher than the total government revenue for the whole month of September 2010 of Sh502.5 billion. In the preceding quarter (April-June, 2010) Tanzanians spent Sh37.475 billion less in telecommunications, a strong signal that telephone number registration and telecommunication companies tariff battles did not have a negative impact to the firms' revenue as previously thought.
According to the report, the amount of money, on average, that the country's seven telecommunications companies brought in from each client (Average Revenue Per User - ARPU) stood at Sh26,724 during the three months from July to September, 2010.
During the second quarter of 2010, the country had a total of 19,592,795 subscribers. The ARPU for April to June 2010 was Sh26,419, indicating that Tanzanians spent an estimated Sh517.622 billion on both voice and text messages between April and June, last year.
However, TCRA says the amount should not be mistaken with the companies' actual profits.
"If you calculate, you really get a huge amount but that does not reflect the profits that the companies make…the amount also encompasses what the firms spend on investment activities, taxation, salaries and other expenditures," the TCRA director general, Prof John Nkoma told The Citizen.
He said poor infrastructure was eating into the companies' profitability.
"In some areas, there are no roads so they have to construct their own roads as they seek the right place on which to build a tower…power is yet another problem… they really collect a lot of money but they also spend a lot of money at the same time," he stressed.
Vodacom remained the market leader, boasting 8,426,097 subscribers while Airtel remained in the second slot with 5,901,634 subscribers as Tigo came third with 4,575,534 subscribers. Having recorded a historic 1,888,739 subscribers in June 2010, Zantel may have failed to go on with the tide.
The company lost 302,223 subscribers between July and September to remain in the fourth place, although with 1,586,516 subscribers. Tanzania Telecommunication Company Limited had 256,064 subscribers while Sasatel had 23,071 subscribers as BOL seems to be nowhere close to any competing giants. It increased just 165 new subscribers between July and September to bring the total number of its clients to just 2,571.
The amount of tax, paid by telecommunications companies during the third quarter of 2010, could not be immediately established. However, most of them fall under Tanzania Revenue Authority's (TRA's) Large Taxpayers department (along with all major companies in the country) which paid a total of Sh490.867 billion between July and September 2010, according to TRA figures.
Economists say spending on telecommunications may help nurture the growth of a country's economy, noting however, that the growth depends on a number of factors.
Research indicates that increasing penetration rate of telecommunications services by 10 per cent pushes a country's gross domestic product (GDP) up by 1.2 per cent.
"But to ascertain if this is the case in Tanzania, we also have to look at three factors," said Prof Humphrey Moshi of the University of Dar es Salaam's Economics Department.
The factors include ownership of the telecommunication firms, investment guidelines and the level of transparency in operations of the companies.'
"If locals own a good number of shares in such companies… if the investment guidelines don't offer tax holidays to investors in the sector and if the firms do not cheat regarding whether or not they make profits so they can pay tax, then it is obvious that the sector may really add a special impetus to GDP growth," he said.
He said with numerous promotions, for which subscribers pay hugely, it was vivid that the sector was not only collecting massively in revenues but that the firms were also making good profits.
"Just imagine, how many people pay Sh300 at one time in a promotion that the winner is awarded a vehicle… how much does the company make in exchange for one vehicle…how many people pay 20 per cent more after being given airtime on credit…they really make a lot of money," he said.
Meanwhile, Prof Nkoma played down assumptions that the ongoing price wars may have far reaching ramifications on the growth of the telecoms sector, saying all he knew was that no businessperson will charge below his operational costs.
The price wars, which began with a Sh1 per second tariff almost four years ago, was rekindled late last year with at least three operators dropping their tariffs to less than Sh0.5 per second.
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/compone...spend-sh555bn-on-phone-calls-in-3-months.html
Airtime tariff's fierce competition threatens telecommunication
By ABDUEL ELINAZA, 24th January 2011 @ 12:00, Total Comments: 0, Hits: 63
A RECENT war on airtime pricing has helped Tanzania to increase her telephone subscribers, beating Kenya, which has been leading the East African market for quite sometime.
Merely two years ago, the telephone tariffs on the country were on the high side with mobile
companies charging over 300/- a minute on own networks.
The trend locked out many potential subscribers because a mobile phone was regarded as a
second highly consuming gadget after vehicles because the major problem with mobile phone is that one becomes easily addicted to it.
The latest data of three telecommunication regulators in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania show
that Tanzania's subscribers have jumped to 20.77 million users to lead the pack.
Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) data indicate that the country tele-density has increased by 1.1 per cent to 20.77 million subscribers per last September.
The new figure indicates that Dar es Salaam has overtaken Nairobi, with the Communication
Commission of Kenya (CCK) data showing that the neighbouring country's industry has grown by 1.2 per cent to 20.1 million users by mid last year.
The Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) statistics indicate that the industry grew by 6.5 per cent to 10.64 million from 9.7 million subscribers at the end of last year.
But, information published on the Rwanda Utility and Regulatory Agency (RURA) website indicates that mobile subscribers rose by 21 per cent to 3.29 million as of June last year.
TCRA Public Relation Manager Innocent Mungy told the ‘Business Standard' that the country has made a number of strides on teleindustry to woo subscribers.
"The achievements are pulling some regional regulators to learn from us," Mr Mungy said in Dar es Salaam over the weekend.
He however warned that the number of telephone users does not represent the population as some subscribers have more that one sim-card.
The price war in Tanzania helped a great deal to increase the number of subscribers as according to Airtel Tanzania Managing Director Sam Elangalloor, the country is among few African states that are offering low air tariffs.
Mr Elangalloor said, "Airtel are devoted in ... delivering services that enable our customers to communicate... at affordable prices taking advantage of quality services and extended coverage."
Tanzania air tariffs for on network call is 60/- per minute. Kenya air tariffs average at Tsh 45/- per minute. Though Airtel Kenya charges the lowest rate of about Tsh 20/- per minute, while
Safaricom charges Tsh 60/- per minute.
Like in Kenya, some stakeholders in Tanzania have warned against indiscriminate price wars
amongst the local mobile phone companies, describing the competition as unhealthy and that it might lead to the collapse of the telecommunications sector.
Social and Economic Research Foundations (ESRF) Executive Director Dr Bohela Lunogelo said that while some of the tariff reduction schemes might not be sustainable, even consumers stand to suffer if competition results in compromised services.
http://dailynews.co.tz/business/?n=16650&cat=business
MY TAKE
Hizi data kwa Tanzania ni kweli au ndo zile propaganda za majirani zetu? maana kwa ninavyojua mimi kuna watu wengi sasa wanatumia internet kupitia blackberries na modems! Au ndo serikali ya Mkwere kama kawaida inalala hai-document watumiaji maana nathani watumiaji simu ya mkono sasa wanafika milioni 20? Article kama hizi zinaiweka nchi katika hatari kubwa ya kukosa uwekezaji! Jamani hime...
By MICHAEL OUMA
Kenya has the highest number of people accessing Internet facilities and services within the East African Community.
According to a study conducted by TNS Research International in Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu from September to November 2010, out of a population of 40 million, about four million (10 per cent) have access to the Internet.
The study, titled "Digital Life" and conducted to establish people's online behaviour and activities, found that in Uganda, out of a population of 33 million, about 3.3 million (10 percent) have a access to the Internet while Tanzania comes last - out of a population of 42 million, only 672,000 people (1.6 per cent) have had an online experience.
The study found that based on an adult sample in each of the covered EAC towns, an average of 45 per cent of the urban population have used the Internet, with Kampala having the highest number at 53 per cent; Arusha and Nairobi at 49 per cent; Mombasa at 42 per cent while Dar es Salaam has the least number of people using the Internet at 31 per cent.
The TNS study revealed that in Kenya, mobile devices and Internet cafes are the primary points of access.
The results of the study show that 60 per cent of Kenyans online use mobile phones as compared with those who use PCs at home (29 per cent); PCs at work (33 per cent); and cyber cafes (41 per cent), thereby indicating high potential for growth in the mobile Internet business in Kenya.
Power of social media
The study found that though e-mail accessing remains the top online activity in Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa, usage of Internet for social media and education as well as knowledge access is growing steadily.
"The demography covered frequent users falling within the 16-60 age bracket, which represents the active online population. The study showed huge growth in Internet use, indicating that once Kenyans get online, they are highly engaged," noted Melissa Baker, TNS Research International's East Africa chief executive.
However, the study notes that barriers to Internet access - like lack of Internet-enabled handsets and PCs as well as lack of awareness of the benefits of the Internet - need to be addressed to raise the level of frequency of accessing Internet services as penetration is still low at between 10 and 15 per cent.
The East African: *- Business*|With 4m users, Kenya leads EA in access to Internet services
Tanzania disputes internet user total
By ROSE ATHUMANI, 4th December 2010 @ 12:00, Total Comments: 2, Hits: 768
TANZANIA Communications and Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has disputed a figure showing that the country has only 520,000 internet subscribers. This means the country ranks below Kenya with 7.8 million subscribers.
Tanzania is connected to the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and the SEACOM fibre optic cable system.
The revelations, made by Mr Jabbi Lamin, the adviser to the director general, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) at the 10th Broadcasters conference on Friday, surprised TCRA officials who disputed the figure saying it was too small.
Mr Lamin said that Tanzania has a mobile phone subscriber base of 17 million, while the internet subscriber total stood at 520,000 users as of June 2009.
TCRA's Director of Broadcasting Affairs, Mr Habbi Gunze, said that he was not comfortable with the internet subscriber figure, when more than 17 million people owned mobile phones.
"I am not comfortable with this. We have 17 million mobile phone subscribers some of whom are able to access internet services," he said.
Eng. Andrew Kisaka of TCRA said that there is a need to do research on this in order to ascertain the number of internet and broadband subscribers in the country.
Presenting a paper titled 'Taking Advantage of Broadband Infrastructure to Provide Broadcasting Services in East Africa, Mr Lamin said that Tanzania could do better than Kenya since the potential is much greater.
"We just need to learn what is happening then capitalize on that. I believe that Tanzania can do much better than Kenya since it is on the coastal area," he added.
Kenya will have a mobile subscriber base of about 21 million by the end of 2010. It will also have 18,626 broadband subscribers. Uganda had a 14 million mobile subscribers' base by the end of June 2009 and 2.5 million internet subscribers.
Rwanda had a 3.6 million mobile subscriber base by the end of September, this year and 493,900 internet subscribers as of last June.
Mr Lamin said that as the East African country moves to reap more benefits from broadband, there is a need to have clear policies in this connection -- which are still lacking.
The 10th annual broadcasters' conference brought together more than 150 media stakeholders including operators, owners, Information Communication Technology (ICT) experts and managers from within the country and the neighbouring country.
There was also a participant from South Africa representing Southern Africa Development Community (SADC).
The Annual Broadcasters' Conference (ABC) is part of the TCRA workshop where media stakeholders, from within the country and outside, representatives of regulatory bodies, commissions and ICT institutions from neighbouring countries convene annually in the
country to deliberate on issues concerning Broadcasting industry.
This includes consultations, technology change trend, challenges facing the industry and how broadcasting should be managed more efficiently, regulated and operated in the country.
http://www.dailynews.co.tz/home/?n=15122
Tanzanians spend Sh555bn on phone calls in 3 months Send to a friend Monday, 17 January 2011 09:30 digg
Dar es Salaam. Tanzanians spent a staggering Sh555 billion ($396 million) on telephones in three months, according to a new report by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA). That is an average of Sh185 billion per month.
That money was spent between July and September last year, the period covered by the quarterly telecommunications reports drawn by TCRA.
According to the report, the sum comprises cash that left the pockets of about 20,771,487 subscribers who were, by September 2010, receiving services from seven telecommunications companies, namely: Vodacom, Airtel, Tigo, Zantel, TTCL, Sasatel and Benson Informatics (BOL). The subscribers' expenditure cover both voice communications as well as short message services (SMS).
The amount is slightly higher than the total government revenue for the whole month of September 2010 of Sh502.5 billion. In the preceding quarter (April-June, 2010) Tanzanians spent Sh37.475 billion less in telecommunications, a strong signal that telephone number registration and telecommunication companies tariff battles did not have a negative impact to the firms' revenue as previously thought.
According to the report, the amount of money, on average, that the country's seven telecommunications companies brought in from each client (Average Revenue Per User - ARPU) stood at Sh26,724 during the three months from July to September, 2010.
During the second quarter of 2010, the country had a total of 19,592,795 subscribers. The ARPU for April to June 2010 was Sh26,419, indicating that Tanzanians spent an estimated Sh517.622 billion on both voice and text messages between April and June, last year.
However, TCRA says the amount should not be mistaken with the companies' actual profits.
"If you calculate, you really get a huge amount but that does not reflect the profits that the companies make…the amount also encompasses what the firms spend on investment activities, taxation, salaries and other expenditures," the TCRA director general, Prof John Nkoma told The Citizen.
He said poor infrastructure was eating into the companies' profitability.
"In some areas, there are no roads so they have to construct their own roads as they seek the right place on which to build a tower…power is yet another problem… they really collect a lot of money but they also spend a lot of money at the same time," he stressed.
Vodacom remained the market leader, boasting 8,426,097 subscribers while Airtel remained in the second slot with 5,901,634 subscribers as Tigo came third with 4,575,534 subscribers. Having recorded a historic 1,888,739 subscribers in June 2010, Zantel may have failed to go on with the tide.
The company lost 302,223 subscribers between July and September to remain in the fourth place, although with 1,586,516 subscribers. Tanzania Telecommunication Company Limited had 256,064 subscribers while Sasatel had 23,071 subscribers as BOL seems to be nowhere close to any competing giants. It increased just 165 new subscribers between July and September to bring the total number of its clients to just 2,571.
The amount of tax, paid by telecommunications companies during the third quarter of 2010, could not be immediately established. However, most of them fall under Tanzania Revenue Authority's (TRA's) Large Taxpayers department (along with all major companies in the country) which paid a total of Sh490.867 billion between July and September 2010, according to TRA figures.
Economists say spending on telecommunications may help nurture the growth of a country's economy, noting however, that the growth depends on a number of factors.
Research indicates that increasing penetration rate of telecommunications services by 10 per cent pushes a country's gross domestic product (GDP) up by 1.2 per cent.
"But to ascertain if this is the case in Tanzania, we also have to look at three factors," said Prof Humphrey Moshi of the University of Dar es Salaam's Economics Department.
The factors include ownership of the telecommunication firms, investment guidelines and the level of transparency in operations of the companies.'
"If locals own a good number of shares in such companies… if the investment guidelines don't offer tax holidays to investors in the sector and if the firms do not cheat regarding whether or not they make profits so they can pay tax, then it is obvious that the sector may really add a special impetus to GDP growth," he said.
He said with numerous promotions, for which subscribers pay hugely, it was vivid that the sector was not only collecting massively in revenues but that the firms were also making good profits.
"Just imagine, how many people pay Sh300 at one time in a promotion that the winner is awarded a vehicle… how much does the company make in exchange for one vehicle…how many people pay 20 per cent more after being given airtime on credit…they really make a lot of money," he said.
Meanwhile, Prof Nkoma played down assumptions that the ongoing price wars may have far reaching ramifications on the growth of the telecoms sector, saying all he knew was that no businessperson will charge below his operational costs.
The price wars, which began with a Sh1 per second tariff almost four years ago, was rekindled late last year with at least three operators dropping their tariffs to less than Sh0.5 per second.
http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/compone...spend-sh555bn-on-phone-calls-in-3-months.html
Airtime tariff's fierce competition threatens telecommunication
By ABDUEL ELINAZA, 24th January 2011 @ 12:00, Total Comments: 0, Hits: 63
A RECENT war on airtime pricing has helped Tanzania to increase her telephone subscribers, beating Kenya, which has been leading the East African market for quite sometime.
Merely two years ago, the telephone tariffs on the country were on the high side with mobile
companies charging over 300/- a minute on own networks.
The trend locked out many potential subscribers because a mobile phone was regarded as a
second highly consuming gadget after vehicles because the major problem with mobile phone is that one becomes easily addicted to it.
The latest data of three telecommunication regulators in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania show
that Tanzania's subscribers have jumped to 20.77 million users to lead the pack.
Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) data indicate that the country tele-density has increased by 1.1 per cent to 20.77 million subscribers per last September.
The new figure indicates that Dar es Salaam has overtaken Nairobi, with the Communication
Commission of Kenya (CCK) data showing that the neighbouring country's industry has grown by 1.2 per cent to 20.1 million users by mid last year.
The Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) statistics indicate that the industry grew by 6.5 per cent to 10.64 million from 9.7 million subscribers at the end of last year.
But, information published on the Rwanda Utility and Regulatory Agency (RURA) website indicates that mobile subscribers rose by 21 per cent to 3.29 million as of June last year.
TCRA Public Relation Manager Innocent Mungy told the ‘Business Standard' that the country has made a number of strides on teleindustry to woo subscribers.
"The achievements are pulling some regional regulators to learn from us," Mr Mungy said in Dar es Salaam over the weekend.
He however warned that the number of telephone users does not represent the population as some subscribers have more that one sim-card.
The price war in Tanzania helped a great deal to increase the number of subscribers as according to Airtel Tanzania Managing Director Sam Elangalloor, the country is among few African states that are offering low air tariffs.
Mr Elangalloor said, "Airtel are devoted in ... delivering services that enable our customers to communicate... at affordable prices taking advantage of quality services and extended coverage."
Tanzania air tariffs for on network call is 60/- per minute. Kenya air tariffs average at Tsh 45/- per minute. Though Airtel Kenya charges the lowest rate of about Tsh 20/- per minute, while
Safaricom charges Tsh 60/- per minute.
Like in Kenya, some stakeholders in Tanzania have warned against indiscriminate price wars
amongst the local mobile phone companies, describing the competition as unhealthy and that it might lead to the collapse of the telecommunications sector.
Social and Economic Research Foundations (ESRF) Executive Director Dr Bohela Lunogelo said that while some of the tariff reduction schemes might not be sustainable, even consumers stand to suffer if competition results in compromised services.
http://dailynews.co.tz/business/?n=16650&cat=business
MY TAKE
Hizi data kwa Tanzania ni kweli au ndo zile propaganda za majirani zetu? maana kwa ninavyojua mimi kuna watu wengi sasa wanatumia internet kupitia blackberries na modems! Au ndo serikali ya Mkwere kama kawaida inalala hai-document watumiaji maana nathani watumiaji simu ya mkono sasa wanafika milioni 20? Article kama hizi zinaiweka nchi katika hatari kubwa ya kukosa uwekezaji! Jamani hime...
