www.iji-cs.org
Industrial Informatics Research Group, Department of Engineering and Design, School of Engineering and
Informatics, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QT
2
pazi@ifm.ac.tz; 2c.r.chatwin@sussex.ac.uk
Abstract
The vision of the Tanzanian national ICT policy is for
Tanzania to become a hub of ICT infrastructure and ICT
solutions
that
enhance
sustainable
socio-economic
development and accelerate poverty reduction both
nationally and globally. To achieve this, Tanzanian National
ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB) is being constructed
using optical fibre technology that will connect all its regions
and districts, giving them access to the 10,000 km-length
national and regional broadband infrastructure as well as to
the undersea fibre cables landing on its shores. Innovations
in broadband backbone coupled with optical fiber
technology have lowered the costs of providing ICT services
to virtually any location, for example from an inner-city
neighborhood to a rural village or to remote areas in other
places of the world. In this study, quantitative and
qualitative research have been applied to analyze data
obtained from interviews, questionnaires and publications in
order to assess the economic benefits and challenges of
NICTBB since it became operational. Despite the economic
benefits of NICTBB, the study found that there is still a role
for the Tanzanian government to provide last mile
connectivity solutions for rural areas to enable people to
access the internet via the NICTBB, as well as to educate
them on how to exploit and use broadband for economic
development. Since constructing the NICTBB is only the first
step toward realizing the potential benefits from broadband
access, government should now ensure that it is accessible
and affordable to rural area people so that majority of
Tanzanians can be effective in utilizing the backbone in their
daily activities, thereby enhancing economic development.
Keywords
National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB); Optical Fibre
DWDM; SONET/SDH; Internet Services; E-services
Introduction
Tanzania is constructing a National ICT Broadband
Backbone (NICTBB) by utilising optical fibre technology
117
www.iji-cs.org
International Journal of Information and Computer Science Volume 2 Issue 7, November 2013
118
International Journal of Information and Computer Science Volume 2 Issue 7, November 2013
www.iji-cs.org
119
www.iji-cs.org
International Journal of Information and Computer Science Volume 2 Issue 7, November 2013
120
International Journal of Information and Computer Science Volume 2 Issue 7, November 2013
www.iji-cs.org
Year
2000
2002
2005
2009
2011
2012
Users
50,000
500,000
820,000
520,000
4,932,535
5,629,532
% Penetrations
0.3 %
3.6 %
6.7 %
1.3 %
11.5 %
12 %
Findings
Following thorough analysis of the primary and
secondary data by using quantitative and qualitative
methods, it was found that Tanzanias Internet sector
has remained underdeveloped due to the limited reach
of the traditional fixed-line networks and the lack of
international fiber connections until the construction of
NICTBB took place with its connection to the
international submarine optical fiber cable via the
SEACOM and the Eastern African Sub-Marine cable
System (EASSy) in July 2009. This has resulted in the
international bandwidth cost being reduced from
$1,500 per Mbps to $180 per Mbps (Stefanotti, 2010),
which is equivalent to an eighty eight percent [88%]
121
www.iji-cs.org
International Journal of Information and Computer Science Volume 2 Issue 7, November 2013
Year
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013 (March)
Users
2,963,737
5,614,922
8,486,126
13,130,602
17,642,408
21,158,364
25,827,518
27,627,156
27,598,689
% Penetrations
10%
15%
21%
32%
43%
50%
59%
61%
61%
Year
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013 (March)
Users
154,420
152,644
163,269
123,809
172,922
174,511
161,063
176,367
169,786
% Penetrations
0.52%
0.41%
0.40%
0.30%
0.42%
0.41%
0.36%
0.39%
0.38%
122
International Journal of Information and Computer Science Volume 2 Issue 7, November 2013
access Internet services or use m-facilities such as emoney/m-banking provided by mobile operators to
send or transfer money. The same as the use of e-health,
Tanzania Telecommunication Limited (TTCL) in
collaboration with Kilimanjaro Christian Medical
Centre and Bugando hospital are offering telemedicine
services through NICTBB, whereby sound and pictures
of the patient are being sent to experts in other parts of
the world for further analysis without the patient being
physically transferred to these places (Guardian, 2013).
This has cut down the patient costs for treatment and
travelling to hospitals abroad, etc. Similarly, diagnosis
and prescription are done electronically saving
transport costs for patients/doctors to travel from their
premises or working places to meet the patients or the
doctors respectively. In addition, the use of eeducation has facilitated access to learning and
teaching materials, and facilitated online classes. This
has reduced administrative costs and increased work
efficiency by deploying fewer teachers for attending a
big number of students seated in different locations all
at one time. Furthermore, e-banking has helped
customers to be proactive at their workplace instead of
wasting travelling time and costs to their respective
bank or company to check balances or pay bills; and
these services can now be provided electronically.
Creation of New Business and Jobs
The operation of NICTBB has also opened doors for
new businesses to be created in order to support these
new ICT services. For example, several new businesses
and jobs have been created to cope with new ICT
services such as e-banking, e-business, e-money, mbanking, e-education. As well, small and medium
entrepreneurs (SMEs) in rural and urban areas have
been established to provide e-money facilities such as
Tigo pesa, M-pesa, Airtel money, etc for customers. In
addition, several local web host companies have been
created to provide cloud computing services in
Tanzania. Likewise, NICTBB has also increased
employment opportunities in Tanzania. For example,
several workers were recruited to form an NICTBB
unit within TTCL to deal with daily activity of the
backbone i.e. Administration, Business, Marketing,
Technical operations, etc. Furthermore, several
workers including the chief executives officer (CEO)
were employed in the E-Government agency to
administer and run the daily activities of the agency.
Enhanced Work Productivity and Efficiency
Besides the economic benefits indicated above, the
www.iji-cs.org
123
www.iji-cs.org
International Journal of Information and Computer Science Volume 2 Issue 7, November 2013
124
International Journal of Information and Computer Science Volume 2 Issue 7, November 2013
www.iji-cs.org
to?Network
Tradeoff
Between
Optical
REFERENCES
Technology, 2013.
Pazi, S.M., Chatwin C.R., Young,R., Birch, P.,and Wang,W.
Selected Areas in
2010.
2010.
Ferreira, P., Lehr. W., and Mcknight,I. Optical Networks
of
Science
Engineering
and
Technology
(WASET)
(Accessed
through
Local
Broadband
Access
Telecommunication
July 2013).
and
Union
(ITU).
Tele-
Conference
on
Communication
and
125
www.iji-cs.org
International Journal of Information and Computer Science Volume 2 Issue 7, November 2013
OFC/NFOEC, 2008.
Saleh,
A.A.M.
Defining
All-optical
Networking
and
The
united
Republic
of
Tanzania
(URT).
National
March 2003.
Policy, 2003.
126
Tanzania.
Value
partners.
Broadband
in
China:
Accelerate