We’ve invested more than Sh1tr in Tanzania: Halotel

Halotel’s deputy director Nguyen Van Son speaks in Dar es Salaam about what the telecommunications company has achieved during the past three years of its operations in Tanzania. With him is head of Communications at Halotel, Mr Mhina Semwenda. PHOTO | THE CITIZEN CORRESPONDENT

What you need to know:

  • Three years since Halotel started its operations in Tanzania, it has been able to invest a total of Sh1.2 trillion to make it into one of the telecommunication firms with the largest telecommunications infrastructure.

Dar es Salaam. Halotel Tanzania has invested around $500 million (about Sh1.1 trillion) in Tanzania during the past three years, the company said on Tuesday October 16.

The investment has helped the company to create thousands of jobs and also to be able to cover the 95 per cent of Tanzania’s population with its network facilities, the firm’s deputy managing director, Mr Nguyen Van Son, told journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

The press conference was called to update the country on what the company – which started its operations in October 2015 – has achieved during the three-year period.

“In three years. We have invested nearly $500 million. Halotel now has the largest telecommunications infrastructure in Tanzania, covering 95 per cent of the country’s population.

It has over 4,400 Base Transceiver Stations (BTS’s) and over 18,348 kilometres of optic fibre,” he said.

He said the amount was part of the $700 million that the Vietnamese firm was seeking to invest in Tanzania as it looked to achieve its wider goal of becoming the second mobile telecommunication operator in Tanzania.

With a focus on reaching the remotest of the rural areas, Halote’s strategy has paid off with Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) figures putting the total number of the company’s subscribers at 3,649,805 as of June 2018.