Tigo targets businesses with new product launch

What you need to know:

Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) figures show that the number of internet users – or at least internet-connected devices – has risen from 5.3 million in 2011 to 19.86 million in 2016.

Dar es Salaam. Tigo Tanzania has introduced a special data and voice product that specifically caters for the needs of businesses as it seeks to capitalise on presence of a fibre cable to attract an increased number of business clients.

Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) figures show that the number of internet users – or at least internet-connected devices – has risen from 5.3 million in 2011 to 19.86 million in 2016.

With the internet penetration rate jumping from 12 per cent to 34 and 40 per cent in 2011, 2015 and 2016 respectively, telecommunication firms are now investing much of their resources in data.

But Tigo Tanzania, which is also of those that have rolled out the 4G-LTE technology, has gone a mile further by delivering more value-added services and business solutions such as cloud services and ICT managed services under a single portfolio, thanks to its multi-million dollar investment in network expansion and improvement during the past two years.

Known as Tigo Business, the service offers tailor-made solutions to a diverse range of sectors that vary from small, medium and large businesses and from government departments/agencies to development organisations. The service also targets financial institutions, the extractive industry, manufacturers, teh service sector and distributors among others.

“We have invested for the future,” the company’s acting managing director, Mr Simon Karikari said in Dar es Salaam last week when he officially introduced the Tigo Business service to business news editors.

Tigo’s fibre connectivity, said Mr Karikari, currently covers almost their entire country.

Tigo – which now commands a 28 per cent subscription in a competitive market of seven players – announced in 2015 that it would invest $120 million in rolling out 843 new mobile sites (including those to offer 3G and 4G LTE) across the country.

About three months ago, the company announced a further $75 million investment in upgrading its network. This is on top of another 75 million US dollars invested in the past year.

“At the moment we are the market leader in Dar es Salaam…we want to leverage our 4G service to corporate clients as well and this is what Tigo Business is also about,” Mr Karikari said.

With the investments, Tigo now has 1,500 towers that support 3G and 300 sites in major cities that support its 4G LTE.

According to the company’s acting chief business officer Mr Hugh Sonn, the business to business (B2B) would offer all inclusive tele-services including data storage.

“We put together bundled solutions that combine value added products alongside mobile, broadband and internet services at high speed connectivity” he said, noting that the products are tailor-made to support Small and Medium Enterprises, individual business operators and corporate bodies depending on need and preferences.

The company, he said, offers highly secured private internet service that is capable of protecting systems for corporate bodies. It also stores clients’ data.

The services are supported by the presence of a state-of-the-art data centre, according to the company’s chief technology information officer, Mr Jerome Albou.

Located at Salasala in the city’s outskirts, the centre is part of Tigo’s B2B service where customers are free to rent space or ask the telecom firm to host its data under a special Service Levy Agreement (SLA).

The company’s B2B provides storage businesses with one stop-shop for various communication and data requirements thus alleviating the need for them to source such services from different providers. In essence, this cuts on costs.