Dar es Salaam – March 10, 2023: To implement its mission to connect Tanzanians with communication technologies and impact lives through innovative digital services, Vodacom Tanzania Plc revealed that it has built 227 5G network towers across the country.
That information was shared by the Managing Director of Vodacom Tanzania Plc, Philip Besiimire speaking during the Twitter Spaces session dubbed ‘VODA CHAT’ discussing the company’s network performance and a new 5G service introduced last year in September.
“Technology advances so are we, a few years back we rolled out 2G, moved onto 3G and 4G, and now we are on 5G. In addition, there are some hearsays that in some places have started to research and shift to 6G – technology will keep on changing. Now, what we are doing is keep on updating or layering up our network towers to accommodate new technological improvements. Also, the manufacturers of the radio equipment used in site towers build devices that could adapt to these changes. In short, all technologies will continue to exist as we still have a remarkable number of customers still using 2G, and many also are shifting to both 3G and 4G. Among the challenge that we need to address is the high price of smartphones that supports 4G and 5G,” explained Philip.
“Vodacom will continue to accommodate 5G and 4G as well as 3G and 2G, our main goal, for now, is to continue convincing customers to move into new technology advancements to experience better performance and related benefits. Also, to make sure customers acquire smartphones at low prices and continuously expand our network services. Tanzania is a huge country with the youngest population in the region. As days go on this young population will grow and start using our services hence the need to keep on investing in the expansion of better services. There are still a couple to be dealt with first including improving our infrastructure to ensure the maximum network performance,” added Philp.
Expounding on the 5G network technology used by Vodacom Tanzania Plc, Director of Network, Andrew Lupembe noted, “we have deployed the 5G network service in two spectrums – the first technology is using 3500 megahertz which is very popular and used in many countries globally and recently we have acquired a new spectrum from TCRA with a capability of 2300 megahertz.”
In addition to the company’s services coverage, the Consumer Business Director at Vodacom Tanzania Plc, Linda Riwa added, “several customers with access to smartphones are almost 30-40%, that is equivalent to almost 60% of our customers do not use smartphones, out of 17 million that we have. The most challenge that customers are facing is the high prices of smartphones compared to 2G gadgets. Among the initiatives now is to introduce low-cost smartphones, for example, last year we introduced a smatikitochi that was retailed at Tsh. 100,000/- and now is available for Tsh. 55,000/- Also we offer free monthly internet connectivity to customers who purchase smartphones from our retail partners to unburden some costs. Next year, we will continue to invest more in lowering the prices of smartphones by introducing installment payments to customers to increase smart phones accessibility among Tanzanians.”
Sharing his observations from the future of Tanzania during the Twitter Space session, Philip concluded, “I have observed four things that I would like to share with you - most Tanzanians would like to be connected with better communication technologies, they want more understanding how the 5G network operates, also the availability of affordable electronic gadgets, as well as inclusive innovative digital services across different sectors such as education, health, agriculture, finance and banking to mention a few. Vodacom will keep on coming up with innovative digital solutions that impact the lives of people, support government initiatives, partner with other stakeholders and encourage a vibrant and competitive industry to benefit more customers.”
In her closing remarks, Acting Director of Corporate Affairs at Vodacom Tanzania Plc, Annette Kanora said, “it was an interesting session being our first time to hold a conversation with our customers on the online platform. We promise to come up with another session, with a different topic that I believe will be more engaging and attract more listeners like this one. We are planning to set up a poll survey on our social media platforms where customers will be able to vote for the next topic of discussion.”
The new VODA CHAT session aims to bring together the company’s decision-makers from the management level to engage in conversations around different topics of interest. Over 2,800 listeners joined the session was held on Tuesday, March 7th from 5 pm to 6 pm.
You can visit the link below to listen to the recorded audio if you missed the session:
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