Jerry Silaa, the Communication and Information Technology minister announced at the Connect 2 Connect conference that took place on 18 and 19 September in Arusha, Tanzania, that the sites are part of the Digital Tanzania Project.
The government has launched the “Digital Tanzania” project supported by the World Bank and in partnership with MNOs to achieve 80% broadband penetration by 2025. With a total expected cost of US$112mn implemented under the Universal Communication Services Access Fund (UCSAF), MNOs will need to deploy 758 new towers to underserved areas. Additionally, 304 existing 2G sites will be upgraded to 3G and 4G. The 636 new sites to be built will be in addition to the 758 towers that have already been planned for underserved areas.
Tanzania’s UCSAF was launched in 2017 and has since supported the deployment of over 1,500 towers across the country and has been described by some in the industry as one of the most successful Universal Service Funds in all of Africa.
The body is now financing the building of over 100 rural sites a year. Each of the three main MNOs (Vodacom, Tigo and Airtel) have also been in a RAN sharing agreement since 2016 to improve coverage in rural areas.
A recent study commissioned by US-based international towerco SBA Communications and pursued by the Telecom Advisory Services, found that a robust independent tower industry is key to driving availability of broadband coverage while supporting MNO capex and opex burdens.
Minara Tanzania, a joint-venture holding of SBA Communications and Paradigm Infrastructure, launched the study in Dar es Salaam to the ICT Minister and Communications Regulatory Authority, who recognised the role of towercos and the telecom industry in driving rural coverage to enhance service coverage.
A key element of UCSAF success in Tanzania has been the presence of a strong tower industry that has provided the capex and technical expertise for site build in rural areas.
The largest tower operator in the country is Helios Towers and the country is also its largest market. The towerco operates 4,176 sites there and mentions it has built over 290 UCSAF sites since 2015 with its MNO customers getting grants from the fund. In addition, it has announced plans to build additional sites, which will bring first time coverage to a number of rural communities in the country, as well as continue to support community initiatives to boost local digital access.
