Tanzania mobile operator, Tigo, has announced plans to invest nearly USD 104 million a year to expand and revamp its coverage in rural areas of the country.
According to the Tigo Managing Director, Diego Gutierrez, who recently spoke to East African Business Week, the mobile company is currently investing approximately USD 2 million a week to have embarked on the expansion of and upgrades to its operational landscape.
“Tigo will maintain this unprecedented level of investment for quite some time with a focus to opening up uncovered areas especially the remotest parts of the country with poor reach of mobile phone services,” he said in the interview.
Tanzania Tigo Pesa currently has approximately 3.5 million subscribers, most of whom are living in urban areas.
Given the untapped rural market, Gutierrez went on to indicate in his recent interview plans to launch more than 600 new sites between 2013 and 2014, with a focus on new growth particularly in the country’s untapped rural areas.
“Our commitment to the country is big” he said, “we believe in this country and we think that there is a lot of room to keep on growing.”