Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation, formerly Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL), is the oldest and largest fixed line telecommunications company in Tanzania. The company comes forth from the former Tanzania Posts and Telecommunications Corporation in 1993. TTCL was wholly owned by the Government of Tanzania until the partial

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the company on 23 February 2001. TTCL is governed by

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

—the Tanzania Telecommunications Act of 1993. The company is licensee for fixed basic telephone services in Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar and hence it owns and operates the

public switched telephone network The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides Communications infrastructure, infrastructure and services for public Telecommunications, telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that ...

in mainland Tanzania and on Zanzibar. Before the coming of mobile operators in late 1994, the company was enjoying monopoly on Tanzania Mainland and a

duopoly A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...

on Tanzania Zanzibar, where Zanzibar Telecoms Limited (Zantel) was the second licensed fixed basic telephony operator. The company has been in several joint managements due to its financial instability in the past and has gone through several restructuring phases. It has been working with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd as the infrastructure vendor of the company and Ericsson as a long-term strategic supplier of the company.

History

Early history

TTCL traces its roots to the East African telecommunications provider. In 1933, the former East African Post and Telegraph Company covered Postal, Telegraph and Telephone services in the three East African nations of

Tanganyika Tanganyika may refer to: Places * Tanganyika Territory (1916–1961), a former British territory which preceded the sovereign state * Tanganyika (1961–1964), a sovereign state, comprising the mainland part of present-day Tanzania * Tanzania Main ...

, Kenya and Uganda. In 1951 the British government replaced the East African Post and Telegraph Company and enacted the East African Posts and Telecommunication Act in 1951 to charter the East African Posts and Telecommunications Administration. In 1967, post independence of the three nations, the East African Community (EAC) was founded and replaced the East African Common Service Organization. In the aftermath, the East African Post and Telecommunications Corporation (EAP&TC) was established and replaced the East African Posts and Telecommunications Administration. However, ten years later, the breaking up of EAC in 1977 forced EAC member countries to re-establish their own national Postal, Telegraph and Telephone businesses. Therefore, in 1978 in Tanzania a parastatal was established under the name Tanzania Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (TPTC). In 1993 when the government of Tanzania heavily restructured parastatals, the Telecommunication sector was liberalised. This saw the splitting up of the TPTC; the TPTC split into three separate entities, namely the

Tanzania Posts Corporation Tanzania Posts Corporation is the company responsible for postal service in Tanzania and was established in 1994. It is headquartered in Kivukoni ward of Ilala MC in Dar es Salaam. History German Postal Services A German postal agency was ...

, the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL), and the Tanzania Communication Commission (TCC).

Partial privatisation

With increased domestic competition and poor management the government decided to privatise the company. The partial

of TTCL began on 23 February 2001, with

Celtel International Celtel was a telecommunications company that operated in several African countries. It was founded by Sudanese-born Mo Ibrahim. History Originally known as "MSI Cellular Investments", the company began operating in 1998. In January 2004, the ...

(previously known as MSI Cellular) headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, together with the German firm

Detecon Detecon International GmbH is a German company specializing in management and technology consulting and operating at the international level. Its headquarters are in Cologne, and it is a subsidiary of T-Systems International GmbH. History ''De ...

, obtained 35%

shares In financial markets, a share is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation, and can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Share capital refers to all of the shares of an ...

from the Government of Tanzania. The consortium took over Board and Management control of TTCL, and 23 February 2001 onward, had a veto over major Board of directors decisions, right to appoint the

senior management Senior management, executive management, upper management, or a management is generally individuals at the highest level of management of an organization who have the day-to-day tasks of managing that organization—sometimes a company or a corpor ...

, to set the annual business plan and to control all capital expenditure decisions. The Regulatory Design Problem Revisited: Tanzania’s Pioneering Position in Africa In August 2005, TTCL pulled out from joint management and the Government of Tanzania and

signed an agreement whereby the shareholders agreed to the restructuring of the two companies and thereafter the TTCL and the Celtel became legally, financially and operationally totally separate companies.

SaskTel

In 2006, TTCL faced a number of financial and operating issues that threaten the long term viability of the company. In February 2007, shareholders awarded a Canadian firm, SaskTel, a three-year executive management contract to lead a technology, financial, operational and cultural transformation of TTCL. The contract required the new senior management team to improve the long term competitive position of TTCL and grow its customer and revenue sources. SaskTel International assume leadership of TTCL in July 2007. However, a disagreement between SaskTel and the majority shareholder on the long term capital funding plan of TTCL, negotiated by SaskTel to support the growth plan, resulted in SaskTel submitted a 45-day notice of termination on 12 July 2009, effectively ending the management contract. While the TTCL Board of Directors approved the financing plan, the majority shareholders refused to support the plan resulting in the SaskTel senior management team officially leaving the organization in September 2009. .

Transfer of shares

In September 2013 Celtel's Parent Company MTC Group was acquired by Zain International BV of Kuwait. Along with the celtel brand, Zain also acquired the 35% share in TTCL. From the 2005 agreement Celtel and TTCL were considered separate legal entities and therefore, Zain had no direct control over the companies operations. Similarly on 8 June 2010,

Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited, commonly known as (d/b/a) Airtel, is an Indian multinational telecommunications services company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, ...

struck a deal to purchase of mobile operations in 15 African countries from Zain and inherited the stake.

Nationalization

In February 2016,

owner of 35 percent stake in the state telecom company agreed to sell its shares back to the government for TSh 14 billion. The dispute between the company and the government lasted for three years as the company demanded more money in compensation. However, the sale was concluded on 23 June 2016 and the company returned to being entirely state owned.

Corporate affairs

Ownership

Currently the company is wholly owned by the Government. In 2001 the government of Tanzania sold 35% stake in the company and in 2016 to protect the firm, repurchased the stock to regain 100 percent ownership. The last partners of the company were

of India.

Business trends

As of March 2016 TTCL has the smallest subscriber base than the top six mobile phone operators in the country. TTCL maintains a total subscriber base of 305,000 of which 45 percent have fixed phone lines. In the fixed line market, TTCL almost has a monopoly and handles over 99 percent of the subscribers.

Headquarters

The company has its headquarters and

customer care Customer service is the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services. Each industry requires different levels of customer service, but in the end, the idea of a well-performed service is that ...

allocated in the Extelecom's Building in Samora Avenue, east of Kisutu, south east of

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

, east Tanzania. Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited also manages and operates offices and engineering departments in all regions and major towns in the country.

References

External links

Tanzania Agrees To Buy Back Bharti Airtel's Stake In State Telecom
{{authority control Telecommunications companies of Tanzania Government-owned companies of Tanzania Economy of Dar es Salaam Telecommunications companies established in 1993 1993 establishments in Tanzania Tanzanian brands Mobile phone companies of Tanzania