In this first of a three-part series, our Correspondent LOKILA MOSSO looks at the role of the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) in promoting the use of ICTs in Tanzania.
When Alexander Graham Bell successfully tested his invention, the telephone on March 10, 1876, in Boston, Massachusetts, little did he envision the multiple uses his contraption would be suited for.
The modern telephone is now a personal assistant and has replaced the need for many stand-alone instruments. The applications services delivered through the latest telephone handset are both awesome and mind baffling.
Some consumers have found alternative banking services via the money transfer services offered by mobile phone operators. Entire libraries are stored in tablets which have both voice and data transmission and processing capabilities.
Much of these are attributable to the evolution of technology and the rapid changes that have been the characteristic of the information and communications technology (ICT) industry.
The level of innovation in using ICT for development depends to a great extent, at individual country levels the world over, on the government agencies established to regulate communications.
In Tanzania, it was first the Tanzania Communications Commission (TCC), the Tanzania Broadcasting Commission (TBC) and now TCRA -- the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority which have contributed to the advanced stage of ICT use in Tanzania.
The converged licensing framework (CLF), introduced in 2005 by TCRA, two years after it took over the functions of the two commissions, has not only transformed the ICT landscape in Tanzania but has enabled the Authority to win global accolades as well.
In short converged licensing framework consists of four licences, Network Facilities licence, Network Services Licence, Applications Services Licence and Content Services Licence. The CLF has literally opened the way for investments in ICT to flow down to the village level. It allows an investor to target markets at the district level. Its licence categories are technology-neutral, which means a licensee can roll out the technology that at the end of the day is both relevant and translates into business sense, and service neutral.
TCRA was voted Best Regulator in Africa in 2010 and was in October 2011 awarded by the ITU - the UN agency responsible for ICT - for its role in championing the drive towards increased use of ICT in Tanzania through implementation of WSIS goals. The ITU citation recognized TCRA's contribution to the realization of connectivity targets agreed at the two summits held in 2003 in Geneva and 2005 in Tunis respectively to discuss strategies to raise the level of ICT use worldwide by 2015.
Known as world summits on the information society and abbreviated WSIS, the summits' Plan of Action includes eleven action lines which are the role of public governance authorities and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development, information and communication infrastructure, access to information and knowledge, capacity building and building confidence and security in the use of ICTs.
Others are an enabling environment and ICT applications; namely, e- government, e-business, e-learning, e-health, e-employment, e- environment, e-Agriculture, e-Science; cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content, the media, ethical dimensions of the information society and international and regional cooperation. WSIS agreed on targets to put the potential of knowledge and ICTs at the service of development at the individual national levels and globally. Countries were encouraged to introduce national e-strategies and in accordance with their development policies.
The specific targets were to connect villages to ICTs and to establish community access points; to connect universities, colleges, secondary schools and primary schools with ICTs and to connect public libraries, cultural centres, museums, post offices and archives.
Tanzania is implementing an ambitious e-education programme known as Tanzania Beyond Tomorrow; in which institutions of higher learning will be networked to facilitate exchange of information and academic resources.
Other targets were to connect scientific and research centres; health centres and hospitals; and all local and central government departments to ICTs.
Countries were also required to set targets for establishing websites and email addresses for these departments. The establishment of the Tanzania Network Information Centre (tzNIC) as a centre for the registration of domain names has increased the number of local institutions using the dot.tz domain, Tanzania's identity in the cyber world.
WSIS also required countries to adapt all primary and secondary school curricula to meet the challenges of utilizing ICTs, increase access to televisions and radio services, encourage the development of content and ensure that half of the world's population have access to ICTs within their reach.
The ITU citation mentioned some of Tanzania's achievements in relation to implementation of the WSIS Action Lines. These include the availability of appropriate policies, legislations and regulations in the communications sector. The country has the national ICT policy of 2003 and the sector legislation - the Electronic and Postal Communications Act (EPOCA) of 2010. Other achievements are the management of competition in the communications sector, the CLF and Management of Interconnection rates through Determination No. 1 of 2004 and Determination No. 2 of 2007, the growth of mobile networks and growth of SIM cards from less than 100,000 in 2000 to 22 million in 2011, the introduction of mobile applications such as internet availability, money transfer, electronic payments and many others, spectrum management, introduction of inclusive national numbering plan and the landing of submarine cables, SEACOM in July 2009 and EASSY in 2010.
ITU also recognized the construction of the terrestrial national optical fibre cable linking Tanzania with neighbouring countries: Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. The deployment of strategically distributed internet exchange points (IXPs) in Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Arusha, and Dodoma.
Receiving the award from the ITU Deputy Secretary General, Houlin Zhao at a ceremony in Geneva, TCRA Director General Professor John Nkoma said TCRA would continue to facilitate and play its coordinative role on the implementation of WSIS Action Lines, through its strategic goal which is to enhance the welfare of Tanzanians through an effective and efficient regulatory framework that ensures universal access to communications.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Lokila Mosso
Quelle/Source: AllAfrica,
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