E-READINESS QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NORTH ... - Kunnat.net

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Even so, there was no single agency yet to implement the policy. Policy elements
fell into the portfolios of many ministries, namely: the Public Service under the President
for E-Governance, Science and Technology, Communication and Transport, and
ministries like the Ministry of Justice for Civil Registration and Identity.
The Government of Tanzania introduced liberalization of the Telecommunications
Sector in 1994 following the dissolution of the then Tanzania Posts and Telecommunications
Corporation (TP&TC) into two independent bodies namely Tanzania Telecommunication
Company (TTCL) and Tanzania Postal Corporation. Later in 2003
the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) was established which
merged the Tanzania Communications Commission and the Tanzania Broadcasting
Commission 52 .
Tanzania became one of very few African countries to fully liberalise its communication
Sector. The liberalisation of the communications sector has given a big boost to
the development of telecommunications. This meant that new data and voice providers
could be licensed to compete with TTCL 53 . Growth has been impressive in Tanzania’s
telecoms market. Tanzania’s teledensity was only 10 % in 2005 while today the
same has reached 43%. This is the result of licensing of new operators who have made
considerable investments into network development and expansion, thus giving access
to most of the districts in the country including remotely located inhabitants.
Government institutions, private companies, and academic institutions have made
a step towards computerization of their respective business processes. For example the
number of people accessing the Internet is increasing with time. This can be evidenced
by the increase in the number of Internet cafes especially in Dar es Salaam as well as
other urban areas 54 .
The liberalisation of Voice over Internet Protocol telephony as well as the introduction
of third generation (3G) mobile services and wireless broadband networks has also
boosted the sector which has been hampered by the low level of development of the
traditional fi xed-line network.
Tanzania has currently two fi xed-line operators (TTCL and Zantel) and seven
operational mobile networks (Vodacom, Zain, Tigo, Zantel, TTCL Mobile, Benson
and 55 .
4.5 Tanzania Telecommunications Profi le 2010
Telephones - main lines in use
179,849 (2009)
Telephones - mobile cellular
14.723 million (2009)
Telephone system
General assessment: telecommunications services are inadequate; system operating below
capacity and being modernized for better service; small aperture terminal (VSAT)
system under construction
Domestic: fi xed-line telephone network inadequate with less than 1 connection per
100 persons; mobile-cellular service, aided by multiple providers, is increasing rapidly;
trunk service provided by open-wire, microwave radio relay, tropospheric scatter, and
fi ber-optic cable; some links being made digital
International: country code - 255; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean,
1 Atlantic Ocean)
52 http://propoor-ict.net/docs/tanzania_report.pdf
53 www.infodev.org/en/Document.432.pdf
54 http://www.natcomreport.com/Tanzania/pdf-new/telecommunications.pdf
55 http://www.natcomreport.com/Tanzania/pdf-new/telecommunications.pdf