Vodacom Tanzania has confirmed plans for 3G and 4G expansion and, according to the company’s managing director, is already looking ahead to the 5G future.
A report in Tanzanian newspaper The Citizen says that Vodacom Tanzania is investing about $32.3 million in the expansion of its 3G and 4G networks this year with an eye to bringing high-speed mobile data coverage to 90 percent of the country’s population by 2025.
Quoting the operator’s managing director Hisham Hendi, The Citizen also reported that Vodacom is in talks with the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) about the possibility of launching 5G services in the future. There was no indication of when 5G spectrum might become available, however.
The comments came during celebrations to mark two decades of Vodacom’s presence in Tanzania. One of the participants at the event, corporate affairs director Rosalynn Mworia, said the company was making huge investments in 2G, 3G and 4G coverage but mentioned that there were a number of challenges, notably a lack of 4G-ready handsets at a reasonable price. She called on the government to consider cutting handset costs to make accessibility easier.
Vodacom Tanzania boasts some 15 million voice and data subscribers and a 32 per cent market share. Its customer base includes over 10 million M-Pesa clients, who account for about 40 percent of the mobile money market. Vodacom was the first company to introduce mobile money in Tanzania.
