Mobile operator Viettel Tanzania, which launched commercial services under the Halotel brand name in October last year, plans to increase wireless population coverage from the current level of 90% to 95% by the end of this year. East African Business Week cites the company’s deputy managing director, Le Van Dai, as saying that Viettel Tanzania’s mobile network is currently available in over 1,500 towns and villages across 26 regions, with coverage set to reach a further 1,500 villages in the future. ‘With 18,000km of optical cable and more than 2,500 base transceiver stations (BTS) all over the country, the company can [offer] coverage [to] more than 90% of Tanzania’s population of over 47 million,’ the executive noted, adding that Viettel is implementing a number of social projects in the country, such as supplying 450 schools with free internet access.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, Vietnamese telecoms group Viettel was granted a licence to build and operate a 3G mobile network in Tanzania in October 2014 and the firm went on to launch its Halotel-branded 2G and 3G services twelve months later, claiming 81% population coverage at launch.