Tanzania's state-owned telco, TTCL Corporation, is extending its fibre connectivity to Burundi through the Kabanga and Manyovu centres.

The connection will be carried out by the TTCL and managed by Tanzanian National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB).

Speaking during the signing of the $5.9 million agreement between TTCL and the Burundi Backbone System (BBS), the latter’s executive officer Elia Ntihagowumwe said the 10-year deal will connect Burundi to the Seacom and Eassy international undersea cable systems.

In an interview with The EastAfrican, TTCL’s Vedastus Mwita said the value of the initial agreement will change once TTCL upgrades the supply from 2.5 bits per second to 10 billion bits per second.

“TTCL will provide data and high speed Internet as it stores data at the national Internet data centre, which will benefit corporate customers operating businesses in both countries like CRDB bank,” he said.

According to the 2019 quarterly statistics by Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority, TTCL has one per cent of the subscription market share; Vodacom leads with 33 per cent, Tigo with 27 per cent, closely followed by Airtel at 26 per cent, Halotel with 10 per cent of and Zantel with three per cent.
TTCL has so far connected Zambia, Malawi and Rwanda and is targeting other SADC countries.