Tanzanian regulator drops voice interconnection ceiling rates

The Tanzania Regulatory Communications Authority (TRCA) has lowered mobile voice interconnection ceiling charges from USD0.0749 to USD0.0732, effective from January 2011, reports Tanzania Daily News. He watchdog’s public relations manager, Innocent Mungy told the paper that the new maximum wholesale fees are in accordance with Determination No. 2 issued at the end of 2007. Although only a relatively minor reduction, it is hoped that the lowering of wholesale charges will translate to further decreases to retail off-net mobile call charges. However, representatives of mobile service providers referenced by the report said that it is too early to predict any changes until their commercial departments analyse the new tariffs. Cellcos Tigo, Airtel and Vodacom all currently charge retail customers TZS3 (USD0.002) per second for off-net calls. Following consultation in December 2007 involving operators TTCL, Benson informatics, Six Telelecom, Airtel, Vodacom, Tigo and Zantel, the regulator determined that tariffs remained ‘high’ and needed reducing to reflect actual costs. The cost-based interconnection rates are set to glide to USD0.0716 in January 2012. The implementation started in January 2008 when the rate was USD0.0783.