SHS1TRILLION PER MONTH SPENT ON THE MOBILE

This means mobile phone users spend an average of $20 million (Sh36 billion) daily to call or text their relatives, friends workmates or business associates. PHOTO|FILE 

Dar es Salaam. As millions of mobile phone users in Tanzania click the “dial” or “send” button on their fancied mobile phones to text or call their friends, they spend roughly Sh1 trillion ($600 million) in a month, The Citizen can reveal today.

Taking this figure as a benchmark, what Tanzanians spend for texting and voice calling is more than monthly revenues collected by Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).

This means mobile phone users spend an average of $20 million (Sh36 billion) daily to call or text their relatives, friends workmates or business associates. It is also 63 per cent of the country’s annual budget, which is so far estimated to be Sh19 trillion.

This doesn’t include what is spent on surfing the nets—including the famous Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, Instagram or Twitter.

For instance, data produced by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) indicate that between October and December 2014, a Tanzanian spent an average of Sh35,726 each month on both voice and short message services (SMS) via their mobile phones.

With some 31,085,970 subscriber identification module (Sim) cards captured in October, the Sh35,726 Average Revenue Per User (Arpu), it means Tanzanians spent Sh1.11 trillion in October 2014.

However, this this figure could go higher or decline, depending on the monthly traffic—for each month—given the fact that the way and speed in which people communicate varies accordingly.

Analysts say the spending may be good for the country’s economic development endevours.

It is also an indication that Tanzanians have some cash to spend and that they are now tired of walking long distances to deliver a message, according to a senior lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam’s Economics Department, Dr Jehovaness Aikael.

“It depends on the reasons behind the communication...when people make calls or SMS, it is the right time to establish good business relationships. Calling and texting also saves time by avoiding visits to a place physically or writing letters,” said Dr Aikael in a phone interview.

He said that a closer appraisal of the country’s population and the varied social and economic statuses of Tanzanians, the amount spent on phones could end up being even higher than the reported one.

“This expenditure on airtime is an indication that the majority of Tanzanians have shifted from hand-to-mouth existences to a stage where they have extra cash to spend.” The amount went down slightly in November as the number of Sim cards dropped to 30,897,396—meaning that at least Sh1.104 trillion was collected by the country’s six telecommunication firms. However, the drop was short-lived as in December, the number of Sim cards rose to 32,013,930—indicating that Vodacom Tanzania, Airtel, Tigo, Zantel, TTCL and Benson Informatics shared a monthly revenue of Sh1.14 trillion.

CREDIT: THE CITIZEN