The potential and current applications of the 4G-LTE include the amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing, 3D television, and cloud computing.
The TTCL Head Commercial Stream Leader Mr Fredrick Mloka said in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the launch of 4G-LTE marks the beginning of the journey of TTCL transformation to make aggressive market penetration starting with eleven sites in Dar es Salaam Region. He said eleven TTCL towers have been built up to cover areas namely the Julius Nyerere International Airport Pugu Road and the New Posta Office in the central business district.
Other areas are Upanga, Kinondoni, Ubungo, Oysterbay, Mwenge, Mbezi Tangibovu, Mbezi Exchange, Kunduchi Salasala and Wazo Tegeta. "The Dar es Salaam project has been made possible through use of TTCL internal funds while waiting for the government guarantee to access loan from the TIB Development bank," he said. He added,
"With the funds, TTCL will manage to erect more infrastructures to have eleven regions covered by the end of 2016." About 266 towers are needed to cover the whole of Dar es Salaam Region.
Other operators took up to eight years to erect telecom towers countrywide although most rural areas are yet to be covered. "We hope that by the end of the first quarter 2016, big part of Dar es Salaam region which is already surveyed, will be covered by roaming before rolling up into other parts of the country," he said.
Roaming is the ability for a customer of mobile communications to automatically make and receive telephone calls, send and receive data, or access other services while travelling outside the geographical coverage area of the home network, by means of using a network of another operator. By the end of 2016, bigger part of the other ten regions and main roads after Dar will be captured with high speed 4G-LTE and a limited coverage of 3G.
These are Mwanza, Mbeya, Arusha, Dodoma, Mtwara, Tanga, Kilimanjaro, Iringa, Morogoro and Zanzibar. And the five year business plan is to cover all regions in Tanzania and main roads and sell the 4G and bring data into Wi-Fi in order to make Tanzanians on the go, at home and in the office to enjoy fully the availability of TTCL networks.
"The wide coverage will make people enjoy reliable voice calls and with roaming they can notice the use of 3G and get 4G data as well as the enhanced fixed networks that continue to grow," he said.
The execution of the business transformation will ultimately lead to the realisation of the fixed mobile convergence, a big differentiator that can not easily be replicated by other operators.
He said by having the converged network, TTCL will be able to unite all its products in the mobile and fixed to serve customers with the bundled united quality and affordable products for the high markets including the government, middle segments and mass markets. "TTCL is very strong in fixed data and landlines serving all government institutions and other private entities.
It is now penetrating in the mobility data where many operators focus on mobile phones in order to make the big differentiator," he said. He added, "Data is going to be everything in the next couple of years.
Voice will be an added value or free like SMS messages," he said. Currently voice is king in the local market and huge part revenues for most operators including TTCL is generated from this segment.
