Number of Sim cards up 4pc in three months as Tigo leads
Farmers demonstrate how Tigo Kilimo – an SMS-based application which presents small-scale farmers in Tanzania with an unprecedented opportunity to run their operations more productively – works. The firm registered the most number of new Sim cards during the first quarter of this year. PHOTO|FILE
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This brought the total number of Sim cards to 33,180,333 at the end of March 2015 – up from 32,013,930 registered at the end of December 2014, symbolising a 3.64 per cent average growth rate, according to data produced by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania registered a total of 1.166 million new subscriber identification module (Sim) cards between January and March this year as mobile phone firms grapple to win new clients in an ever expanding market of six players.
This brought the total number of Sim cards to 33,180,333 at the end of March 2015 – up from 32,013,930 registered at the end of December 2014, symbolising a 3.64 per cent average growth rate, according to data produced by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).
MIC Tanzania Limited – which trades as Tigo – registered the fastest growth rate during the first quarter of the current calendar year. The company, which is the oldest wireless telecommunications firm in Tanzania, gained 639,877 new Sim cards to bring the total number of its voice subscribers to 9,264,515.
This was a 7.4 per cent growth rate compared to a total of 8,624,638 registered at the end of December 2014. There was no immediate reaction from the firm’s headquarters in Dar es Salaam but Tigo, which pioneered a reduction in telecommunication tariffs way back in 2007, still markets itself as the most affordable network in the country.
The growth brought Tigo’s market share to 28 per cent, up from 27 per cent in December 2014.
Apparently, this will be a wakeup call to Airtel which registered only 152,228 new Sim cards or a 1.59 per cent growth rate between January and March 2015 to maintain its position as the second one in terms of subscribers.
However, the company, a subsidiary of India’s Bharti Airtel, is only one per cent ahead of third-placed Tigo in terms of subscription market share. Airtel had a total of 9,704,205 as at the end of the first quarter of 2015.
Recently, Tigo’s parent company, Millicom International Cellular, bought a controlling stake in Zantel but on condition that the two would continue to operate as independent entities in Tanzania.
And, according to TCRA’s new data, Zantel also registered some 8,460 new Sim cards during the first quarter of the current calendar year to bring the total number of its subscribers to 1,738,565.
