Over Sh6tr spent on calls, messages in three months

Dar es Salaam. Forty-one million telecommunication subscribers in Tanzania spent nearly Sh6.1 trillion on calling and text messaging during the second quarter of this year alone.

Telecom statistics published by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) show that the amount includes Sh4.4 trillion spent on calls, and Sh1.7 trillion on short message services (SMS) using mobile telephony.

The expenditure was the result of increased calling and messaging traffic, as well as an increase in international calls tariffs.

The amount is higher than the Sh4.8 trillion spent by 40 million subscribers on similar services during the second quarter of last year which ended on June 30. That earlier sum comprised Sh3.6 trillion spent on mobile calls, and Sh1.2 trillion on text messages.

The report further shows that, during the second quarter of this year – which ended on June 30 – subscribers spent 15.1 billion minutes calling on-net (within same network) and off-net (different networks), as well as to East African and International destinations.

This time-duration was the equivalent in cost terms of Sh3.7 trillion for the on-net traffic; Sh733 billion from off-net traffic; Sh3 billion on calls within East Africa, and Sh20 billion on calls to international destinations.

During the same quarter this year, subscribers sent and received 23.1 billion text messages from on-net, off net and international texting. This was higher than the 18.8 billion text messages recorded during the second quarter of last year.

The TCRA report also shows that during the second quarter of 2017, subscribers spent Sh3.1 trillion to call on-net, Sh653 billion on calling off net, Sh4.8 billion on East African calls, and Sh26 billion on international calls.

During the same quarter, about 86 per cent of all calls traffic was on-net, while off-network calls accounted for about 14 per cent of all the traffic in that second quarter of 2017.

International and East African calls accounted for a relatively negligible 0.2 per cent.

The quarterly average on-net tariff dropped to Sh249 per minute in June 2018, down from Sh278 per minute in June 2017.

Off-net tariffs also dropped to Sh323 per minute, from Sh363 per minute respectively.

TCRA also says in its report that the number of telecoms subscribers in Tanzania increased by 1.5 million during the period under review, rising to 41.8 million during the second quarter of this year, up from 40.3 million in June 2017.

During the second quarter of this year, Vodacom Tanzania had the highest market share for on-net traffic – 38 per cent of the market – followed by Tigo (28 per cent market share) and Airtel (23 per cent).

On the other hand, Airtel had the highest off-network traffic –at 35 per cent – followed by Tigo, with 28 per cent.

The statistics also show that Vodacom had the highest traffic in East African calls (50 per cent), while for international calls Vodacom led with 33 per cent of the share, battling it out with Airtel close behind on 32 per cent.