Challenges and opportunities of digital reforms in Tanzania

Dar es Salaam. Halima Juma, a farmer in Morogoro Region, is optimistic about expanding her vegetable and cereal markets.

Her hopes are pegged on Tanzania’s plans to fast-track the uptake and use of digital technologies across the country to improve public administration, grow the economy, and achieve shared prosperity for all by 2025.

Read: Tanzania’s internet subscribers reach 33 million

"With a more accessible, faster, and affordable internet connection, I expect to link with my clients more easily, although that will also mean more cost for the service," says Ms Juma.

However, Ms Juma is sceptical that low internet penetration and slower speed would alter her business as clients find it difficult to reach her on time and incur losses.

"I reach the market through my online platform, whereby I post products for the day and keep track of what’s in higher demand, prices, and other details for my business through an online app. But when I am at the farm, I do not receive orders because there is no internet connection; that is a real setback to my business," she adds.

Isaack Benson, a graphic designer based in Dar es Salaam shares his sentiments. "Personally, I am excited to see the government and more firms and organizations adopt this fifth generation network. I’m looking forward to when I go to a public hospital and see services are more fast and efficient or when I visit a government parastatal and I am not obliged to move around floors up and down because the network is unstable."

He believes accessible internet connections also mean a more efficient online experience and very quick access to knowledge and entertainment.

"Technology such as 5G opens up access to many things I can learn and do with smart things," says Mr Benson.

Last month, President Samia Suluhu Hassan witnessed the signing of two contracts worth Sh275.5 billion ($122 million) for the construction of 758 communication towers in 713 districts in mainland Tanzania in an effort to increase connectivity and facilitate the achievement of a digital economy.

"Spreading efficient communication services will stimulate growth in almost all economic sectors. And now that we are engaging in agriculture, that involves the youth, and it is the youth who use these networks more than others. By promoting mobile usage, we increase productivity, making the youth part of the development which we are pushing," said President Hassan.

According to the Ministry of Information, Communication, and Information Technology, the towers are built under the state-run Universal Communications Service Access Fund (UCSAF).

Five telecommunication companies will build over 758 new towers worth Sh265.3 billion in 713 wards on the mainland and some 304 other towers that currently provide 2G internet services will upgraded to 3G and 4G.

Although Tanzania has made significant investments to lay the foundations for digitalisation, including building digital infrastructure and boosting public service delivery through e-government, the majority of Tanzanians say they cannot afford and enjoy digital technologies individually.

"Internet bundles are expensive. As a farmer, I sometimes have to make a choice not to buy food or new clothes and perhaps a bundle instead," says Ms Juma.

Data from the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) shows there are over 61.9 million mobile subscribers in Tanzania as of March 2023, but only 33.1 million use the internet.

"The subscriptions are either through cable modem, DSL fiber-to-the-home or business, fixed (wired) broad band, satellite broadband, terrestrial fixed wireless broadband, handset-based, computer-based (USB/dongles), or mobile broadband," states TCRA in its first quarter report.

Apart from the high cost of internet, inadequate infrastructure also poses a bottleneck to the government’s digitalisation efforts.

"It poses a challenge for the government to work on," says Dr Amos Nungu, director general of the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology (Costech).

He stresses that "the government needs to ensure people from all walks of life, including the marginalised, have access to the internet,"

A recent World Bank report states that Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) displays the largest gap between the availability of digital infrastructure and people’s actual usage when compared to other regions of the world.

Andrew Dabalen, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa, commented that "the minimal usage of mobile internet is a lost opportunity for inclusive growth in Africa.”

He says closing the uptake gap would increase the continent’s potential to create jobs for its growing population and boost economic recovery in a highly digitalized world."

But some also see ‘a culture mindset" as another challenge to digital transformation in the country.

A music video director, Nicko Mmbaga, alias NiCKLASS, shared with The Citizen that digital transformation requires a much speedier shift when it comes to operations, with legacy systems and manual processes falling by the wayside.

"There will always be those who are against this change, especially those who prefer to do things the tried-and-tested way rather than adopting new technology. Such a mindset must be addressed and carefully managed ahead of time," says Nickelas.

Tabling the sector’s budget estimates, the Information minister, Mr Nape Nnauye said the government was planning to revitalize the National IT Policy of 2016 and prepare an implementation strategy to address the challenges and fast-track the transformation of sectors including education, agriculture, health, and energy.

This will be done in tandem with preparing a national strategy for the use of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and IoT to enable the country to achieve the Fourth Industrial Revolution, he said.

Mr Nauye said during the launch of 5G technology that the government was working with telecoms to enhance remote education, whereby teachers can offer subjects to remote students in real time.

Speaking more on the need to ensure more people have access to internet, Dr Nungu says the digital economy facilitates the use of the few resources the country has for a wider impact.

“We want to get to a point where a medical doctor in Dar es Salaam is able to participate and treat a person in another part of the country without being there physically,” says Dr Nungu