Tanzania Telecoms Firm Offers Improved Internet Access

According to a recent report by the Daily News, the highest speed internet access under the new 3.5G technology networking system in the Tanzania telecoms sector has officially been launched by Zain Tanzania, a mobile services provider company that is an affiliate of the Kuwaiti group Zain.

Zain Tanzania was officially launched in November 2001 under the name of Celtel Tanzania, at which time it became the fifth mobile services firm to enter the cellular market in Tanzania, which was extremely competitive at the time.

In 2007, the results of a survey showed that Zain Tanzania had been voted the most respectable telecommunications company in the East Africa region and, at the same time, it was also consistently hailed as the most respectable company in the country’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector between the years of 2004 and 2006.

Khaled Muhtadi, the managing director of the company’s branch in Tanzania, told reporters that this new technology is expected to be capable of offering speeds of up to 7 Mbps over its mobile network.

The accessibility of this high-speed internet access has already begun to be made available to Zain customers in parts of the center of Dar es Salaam as well as in Karikoo and the Peninsula and is expected to be made available to customers throughout the city of Dar es Salaam very soon, while the other regions in the country that are covered the company are expected to receive access to services by the end of 2009.

According to Mr. Muhtadi, in addition to having immediate access to these high speed internet services, customers in Dar es Salaam would also, for the first time, be given the option and opportunity to make video calls and send video clips in addition to being able to quickly and easily download pictures and music.

“Our customers in Dar es Salaam have been using the service for the past two weeks,” said Mr. Muhtadi, “and the response we have received from them has been overwhelmingly positive.”

In addition, Mr. Muhtadi went on to say that the company’s affiliates in Tanzania and Ghana were currently the only countries within the company’s sixteen operational locations in Africa that were offering this 3.5G network.

To date, the Zain affiliate company in Tanzania has received over USD 180 in investment funds from its parent company, including the previous investment that the company was made in the country’s High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA).

Included in this investment scheme is the company’s current interest in increasing the access and availability of high speed internet services throughout the country

“We plan to continue to invest in our world class network in 2009 so as to ensure that even more Tanzanians have access to the latest technologies and to high quality telecommunication services,” said Mr. Muhtadi.