Communications deputy minister January Makamba (right) talks with TTCL chief, Dr Kamugisha Kazaura (left), during the Workers’ meeting in the city at the weekend. Others are Jotham Lujara (centre) and Edward Emmanuel. Photo | the citizen correspondent
What you need to know:
The deputy minister for Communication, Science and Technology, Mr January Makamba, said the company should become the leading provider of communication services in East Africa.
Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) may in the near future become solely owned by the government, it has been learnt.
The deputy minister for Communication, Science and Technology, Mr January Makamba, said the company should become the leading provider of communication services in East Africa.
Mr Makamba made the remarks as he closed a two-day TTCL workers council in Dar es Salaam at the weekend.
Currently, the government owns 35 per cent shares while the rest are held by Airtel Tanzania.
“It is the government’s intention to see the company become one of the leading communication services provider in and outside the country in the near future,” he said.
He urged workers to work hard and bring the company to a higher level, so that the government’s goal to ensure TTCL performs better and competes in data and voice services in the market is achieved.
He said that the government has been working to ensure that all previous challenges on management and workers’ welfare were solved.
“After building TTCL’s capacity, communication services, particularly, mobile phones will be available to all parts of the country including rural areas,” said Mr Makamba.
For his part, the chief executive officer of TTCL, Dr Kamugisha Kazaura, said the focus of the company was to shift from Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology which is the latest with much impact in communication systems.
“Through GSM it will help our company to have mobile telephone services that use new technology of 4th Generation Long Term Evolution (4LTE) that can be used to all lines,” adding that it will help the company increase customers and compete in the market.
He said that through the National ICT Backbone Broadband (NICTBB) which is under TTCL, his company holds a special position to benefit from new technologies.
He emphasised that the firm intended to improve its services through application of the latest technology in data and voice to its customers.
He said that the company was expecting to considerably increase its customers for data and voice.
