INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

During 2005, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) continued to oversee the quality of communication equipment exported from various countries. the aim is to control importation and usage of telephone and radio communication equipment so as to protect the networks and theier users.

Fibre-Optic ICT National Backbone

By December 2005, Tanzania continued to use the micro-wave ICT National Backbone whose capacity was below users demand. The government in collaboration with TCRA and other stakeholders completed a feasibility study for the construction of the Fibre Optic ICT National Backbone and established costs for its construction.

Internet Services

Communication through the internet continued whereby, in this age of globalization, the new technologies have turned the world into a global village. In 2005, a total of 23 companies were provinding internet services, the same number as it was in 2004.
The cost of internet services continued to be high due to inadeguate infrastructure and other basic services required to facilitate the provision of communication services, such as reliable electricity and adequate capacity of existing ICT national backbone infrastructure. In order to rectify the situation, the TCRA introduced a new licensing system in February, 2005 in order to attract more investment in the ICT sector. Furthermore the TRCA encouraged data and internet services providers to use the Internet Exchange Point (IXP) facilities located in Dar es Salaam.

E-mail services

The TRCA prepared registration guidelines for email addresses using country identity (.tz.cc TLD) so as strenghen e-mail services and also portray the national identity. The registration goal is to simplify identification of e-mail sources (sending-receiving points) and thus increasing reliability in international commnication on business.

Radio and Television Stations

The new broad casting licensing system was issued by TCRA in February 2005. The system took into consideration the importance of speeding-up delivery of communication services in the country by encouraging establishment of community broadcasting stations so as to bring radio and television services to the villages and enable the majority of people to have access to a variety of news.
By the end of 2005, there were 33 radio stations in the country of which 14 were in Dar es Salaam. Likewise, there were 15 television stations and 17 cable televisions.
Due to the mushrooming of broadcasting stations, the problem of scarsity of frequencies has arisen in some of the major cities of Dar es Salaam, Mwanza and Arusha. In order to address this problem, TCRA advised the government to allow the Medium Wave and Ultra High frequency (UHF) that were earlier prohibited to be used by private radio stations.

 www.tcra.go.tz

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