EA faces phones hurdle as Dar threatens to cut off 5m users

Tanzania will block over five million mobile phone subscribers if they fail to meet a July 14 deadline for registration of subscribers countrywide.

The move will affect not only Tanzanians but also other East African residents who have hooked into a borderless network system that is being operated by Zain Tanzania Ltd, whose major shareholder is Bharti Airtel Ltd of India.

Prof John Nkoma, Director General of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), said that the government had extended the deadline from June 30 to July 14 to allow more people to register with their respective mobile operators.

The country’s mobile operators, Zain Tanzania Ltd, Vodacom Tanzania Ltd, Zantel, Tigo, Tanzania Telecommunications Company Ltd and Dovatel Tanzania Ltd, operating as Sasatel, will have to abide by the government order to block all subscribers who will not have registered by July 14.

A similar notice expiring on July 31 has been issued in Kenya by the regulator — the Communications Commission of Kenya.

The order from the government is intended to help law enforcement agencies find out who has attempted to connect a lost or stolen mobile phone on any network.

Anyone thinking about stealing or receiving a stolen phone will now have to think twice before getting it reconnected.

Previously, a subscriber could simply buy a new Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card on the streets.

Prof Nkoma told The EastAfrican that the SIM card registration will protect consumers from misuse of communication services, enhance national security and enable network operators to promote the know-your-customer strategy.

Prof Nkoma said that about 13 million SIM cards had so far been registered since June 2009 and that only five million SIM cards will be blocked starting July for non-adherence to the mandatory registration.

Operators in Tanzania were in June 2009 issued with a one-year ultimatum to comply with a government order to block services to unregistered subscribers by the end of June 2010. 

The Tanzania Mobile Operators Association (MOAT) is however up in arms against the government move, arguing that phone tracking or blocking systems are costly and can cause network delays.

MOAT argues that this is compounded by administrative difficulties associated with the fast churn of handsets prevalent in the consumer market and a relatively short economic lifespan of handsets today.

Khaled Muhtadi, managing director of Zain Tanzania, told The EastAfrican that the government’s move to block subscribers’ SIM cards will have financial implications for the mobile-phone operators in the country.

Mr Muhtadi said that most mobile firms in the country generate a lot of their revenues from direct sales of SIM cards from street to street and in busy market places, expressing fears the government’s failure to substantially extend the registration period would make most operators lose revenue.

“The blocking of mobile phones is expected to affect customers who did not register their names and addresses when they obtained mobile phone services and phone lines,” he said.

With TCRA putting the total number of mobile phone subscribers at 18 million by June, the average revenue per user surged to $66 during the second quarter of this year — a figure that means that subscribers spend an average of $16 per month.

Taking this figure as the basis for revenue measurement for this year, the mobile-phone industry may earn an estimated $2.684 billion per year — that is double what the mining sector earns yearly — making telecommunications the country’s leading industry.

According to official statistics from TCRA, Tanzanian subscribers spend the second highest amount on mobile phone use in the region, behind Kenya where the average revenue per user is pegged at around $18.

In Uganda, ARPU stands at $10, with an estimated 10 million users.