Tanzania’s telecoms companies have played an important role in driving forward economic development across the country.

These companies have gone far in providing users with new and innovative services, such as mobile banking. In recent years, mobile money services have helped Small and Medium enterprises (SMEs) by providing access to key financial services and cash flow management.

A good example is that of Tigo Pesa. Tigo’s mobile money service has provided many SMEs with a fast and reliable way of making and receiving payments. By using the Tigo Pesa app, SMEs can make instant financial transactions, which helps foster financial inclusion and growth within the country’s SME sector[A1] .

However, there are growing concerns that Tanzania’s telecommunications sector is becoming overcrowded with an unhealthy number of competitors. In fact, as of today, it is one of the most overcrowded markets in sub-Saharan Africa[A2] .

In other sectors, a high number of competitors can at time be beneficial to service providers and their customers. However, this is not the case in the telecommunications industry.

Research has indicated that reducing the amount of companies operating in the telecommunications sector encourages companies to invest more in their technology and customer services, which ultimately improves the customer experience

In a recent news article, the CEOs of Tigo and Zantel stated their intention to merge their operations with the aim of bringing together the strength of both companies.

 [A1]Source: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/fpc/Documents/secteurs/technologies-medias-et-telecommunications/deloitte_the-future-of-telecoms-in-africa_2014.pdf

 [A2]Source: https://www.gsma.com/publicpolicy/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Assessing-the-case-for-in-country-mobile-consolidation-report.pdf