Vodacom Tanzania has lodged an additional $7 million order with Ceragon to upgrade and support backbone links across the country.
This upgrade is designed to support continued customer growth and heightened demand for advanced data services. Vodacom Tanzania is a subsidiary of the Vodacom Group Ltd, part of the Vodafone Group UK.
“As data usage increases, the network’s capacity needs to grow in line with our customer’s new data consumption behaviour. Our network’s reliability is contingent on the delivery of a robust backhaul and network backbone infrastructure,” said Rene Meza, Managing Director at Vodacom.
Tanzania’s mobile market penetration currently stands at approximately 51%. The launch of 3G mobile broadband services has meant that mobile networks are becoming the country’s leading internet service providers on the back of their extensive national infrastructure and existing subscriber bases in the voice market.
“The African marketplace is uniquely suited to embrace a wireless backhaul approach,” said Ira Palti, Ceragon’s President and CEO. “Building connectivity in remote areas, with a population accustomed to connecting to the Internet primarily through mobile devices, is ideal for Ceragon’s many long haul offerings.”