South Africa's Vodacom in Tanzania announced its plans to develop and grow in the country within the year. With an investment worth TZS 200 billion, Vodacom Tanzani intends to further expand its services. Vodacom Tanzania anticipates the investment to help pull in more subscribers even with the competition from several telecom companies in the country.
Vodacom's Managing Director for Tanzania, Rene Meza in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday said, "This year will see us invest TZS 200 billion in network expansion, data and M-Pesa (mobile phone cash transfer service)."
The second-largest business in East Africa, the government is determined on getting a bigger share of revenues. Taxation in the country for mobile phone operators had become difficult. The government's new tax of TZS 1,000 per month on every SIM card and an excise duty of 0.15% on money transfers could be a deterrent to the telecommunication market's growth.
Meza said, "The mobile industry in Tanzania is already heavily taxed. Additional taxes will definitely discourage investment particularly for rural expansion."
Currently, Vodacom Tanzania serves 9.7 million subscribers. The company's rivals in the country include Airtel Tanzania, India's Bharti Tigo Tanzania, Millicom International Cellular and Zantel.
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