As seen, Dar-Es-salaam tops the bill when it comes to the regions with the highest number of Telecom Services’ subscriptions in Tanzania.
According to the latest data from the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, the City and its environs had 9,102,203 active sim cards as of June 2022.
Mwanza, on the shores of Lake Victoria, comes second with 3,376,532 Telecom Subscribers, followed by Arusha in the third position with a total of 3,263,398 active sim cards.
But considering the ratio of subscribers to area population, Arusha should be leading in the country’s subscriptions.
That is considering the region’s small number of residents at just 1.8 Million, compared to Dar-es-salaam’s estimated population of 6 million plus.
Tabora, with 3,000,849 active sim cards, takes the fourth position in Tanzania, as far as the number of Telecom Service Subscriptions is concerned.
Mbeya, a region in the Southern Highlands with 2,961,516 Telecom subscribers, closes the country’s top five slotting.
Other Regions with big numbers of active sim cards include Morogoro, with 2,945,790 subscribers; Dodoma with 2,864,302 sim cards and Tanga which has 2,098,929 subscribers.
Geita winds up the list of areas that have over 2 million subscribers in Tanzania. This Lake Zone Region ranks at number 9 with a total of 2,050,124 active sim cards.
At Number 10 comes Mtwara located further South at the border with Mozambique. Mtwara boasts 1,649, 664 Telkom subscriptions.
Back to the Lake Zone we find Shinyanga, a region ranking on the 11th position with a total of 1,641,547 active sim cards as per TCRA data of June 2022.
The Coastal Region (Pwani) records 1,630,142 subscriptions and is slotted at Number 12 in Tanzania.
Meanwhile the rest of subscriptions per region within the country’s top-twenty bracket are as follows; Kagera (1,562,056); Mara (1,557,804); Ruvuma (1,510,261); Manyara (1,447,498); Iringa (1,439,098); Singida (1,397,359); Simiyu (1,297,523) and Kigoma (1,257,318).
Songwe with 1,137,067 subscribers; Lindi which has 1,081,612 and Rukwa with 1,009,200 active sim cards, close off the regions with more than a million subscriptions.
The rest on the mainland are Njombe with 897,453 subscriptions and Katavi with 658,809.
Going to the Zanzibar Archipelago, the number falls to 414,000 active sim cards in Unguja Island and 186,000 subscriptions in Pemba Island.
From the TCRA figures, it seems the Indian Ocean Coastline which comprises Tanga, Pwani, Lindi, Mtwara and Dar-es-salaam, accounts for nearly 16 Million Active Sim Cards out of the more than 40 Million subscriptions in Tanzania.
It should be noted that the number of subscriptions does not necessarily translate into the number of actual users, because in Tanzania one person can hoard up to five active sim cards.
Strength of signals among various Telecom operators differ with location, thus compelling most users to have more than a single subscription.
Most smartphone handsets imported into the country come with dual sim cards where both slots usually get filled by owners.
Some people own more than one handset, while some sim cards can also be installed in Internet Modems or Wi-Fi Stations.
Telecom Service Providers in Tanzania include, the state-run, Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited, Tigo, Vodacom, Airtel, Halotel and Smile.