Tanzania says it is on track to switch off its analogue TV transmissions before the ITU deadline of June 2015, and it will be one of the first African countries to shift entirely to digital broadcasting.

Tanzania’s Minister for Communication, Science and Technology, Professor Makame Mbarawa, told the ITU 2014 Plenipotentiary Conference that the country was already 70 per cent digital.

“We are expecting to cover the whole country well before the set deadline,” he told the ITU Conference.

Prof. Mbarawa said as far as national and regional connectivity was concerned, Tanzania has recorded significant progress. He said the government had invested in the deployment of 7560 km of Broadband Fibre optic cable, currently connecting all regions in the country. “The broadband optic fibre cable network also connects land-locked countries through multiple connections to the border points of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Zambia, and Malawi. In addition, Seychelles is also connected by fibre optic underwater cable from Tanzania,” he said.

Internet users in Tanzania have increased from 5.1 million in 2010 to over 9.6 million today. Currently, 57 per cent of the population above 16 years of age have access to financial services compared to just 27 per cent in the year 2009, thanks to mobile phone money services,” he explained.

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