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Tanzania Regulator (TCRA) grants telecom licence to indigenous firm

01/14/2006 (IPP Media) -- The Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has granted 6Telecoms Company Limited, a local firm, three licenses to run its activities in and outside the country.

Speaking during the handing over of licenses to the new company the TCRA Director General Prof John Nkoma said 6Telecoms was the first communication company initiated and owned by Tanzanians.

’It is the first time for TCRA to grant licenses to a company fully owned by Tanzanians,’ he told reporters at the TCRA in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

He said the communications sector is very sensitive and we have got these indigenous people whom we view as very important for us to start with, paving way for other Tanzanians to invest within the country.

Prof Nkoma said Tanzanians should invest because there is no longer bureaucratic red tape as it used to be with TTCL.

6Telecoms Company was granted International Network Facilities License; International Network Services License; and National Application Services License.

Nkoma said 6Telecoms is expected to offer such activities like transport of voice, roaming, signaling and sms traffic from Tanzania to the rest of the world; as well as providing international transport of voice traffic, roaming, signaling and SMS transport to the four local GSM carriers in Tanzania.

It is also expected to provide access to international carriers to terminate voice traffic roaming signaling and SMS traffic from various overseas countries into Tanzania and offering calling cards.

Speaking after receiving licences, the 6Telecoms Director-CEO Rashid Shamte told journalists that the new licensing regime introduced by TCRA now permits multiple services over a single network.

’This has opened a door for my company to enter the market and build an advanced international access network that links Tanzania to the world using more efficient technologies,’ Shamte said.

He stressed that the price of international calls would be reduced hence enabling many more people to call internationally.

’But since in Africa very few countries have this technology that Tanzania is now using, the prices in Africa will remain high, but those outside the continent will be lower,’ he said.

Date: 01/14/2006
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Source: IPP Media