A recent report by The Citizen has indicated that the Tanzania telecoms sector has already received a total of Tsh833 billion from the South African based Vodacom Group, who has said that the country is a strategic business location for international operations.
According to the Chief Executive Officer for the Vodacom Group, Pieter Uys, the company’s subsidiary group that operates in Tanzania, Vodacom Tanzania Limited (VTL), which has been doing business in the country for eight years, reportedly invested more than Tsh160 billion in the country in just the last year.
“VTL is a key investment and business in the Group,” said Mr. Uys to journalists in Dar es Salaam, “Last year alone, we invested Sh169 billion and we will continue doing so to ensure the people of Tanzania benefit from our being here.”
Mr. Uys went on to say that his company has not been disappointed with its investment in Tanzania as the country currently represents one of the fastest growing markets south of the Sahara.
In addition, Mr. Ulys said that the country also offers his company a government and a political environment that are both uniquely stable in the region as well as clear and stable policies towards both investment and economic development.
“Vodacom Group under my leadership has total confidence in Tanzania, its Government and its policies, Tanzanian people have proven to be our best,” he said, “we will continue to direct investment in Tanzania in our short and long term strategic plans.”
Currently, this leading mobile phone operator represents a total of 5.9 million subscribers, 1.5 million of which were connected to the VTL network last year and, according to Mr. Ulys, the company is now planning to expand its subscriber base in the country my working to connect rural Tanzania to its network.
In a recent announcement that was made by VTL, the group indicated that it has obtained a USD 90 million syndicated loan from local banks, in order to begin a five-year deal that is expected to earn the company USD 150 million in order to fund its capital expenditure.
“We are growing VTL as a total communication solution-providing a variety of access services such as 3G.WiMAX and satellite,” said Mr. Ulys, “We also want to lead in broadband and mobile Internet, which means leading Tanzania’s Internet and email revolution.”
Overall, the Vodacom Group serves more than 41 million customers, when combining the number of customers it assists through its operations in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa.
