DianaX6283 at 10:59, 4 December 2025

2025-12-04T10:59:57Z

New page

{{Short description|Mobile network operator in Tanzania}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Airtel Tanzania
| logo = Airtel Africa logo.svg
| logo_size = 150px
| key_people =
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| predecessors = [[Zain Group|Zain Tanzania]]<br/> [[Celtel Tanzania]]
| foundation = {{Start date and years ago|df=y|2010|06|08}}
| area_served = Tanzania
| location = Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road, north [[Dar es Salaam]], east [[Tanzania]]
| industry = [[Telecommunications]]
| parent = [[Airtel Africa]]
| products = [[Mobile telephony]]<br /> [[Broadband]]<br /> [[Internet service provider|Internet services]]
| homepage = {{URL|https://www.airtel.co.tz/}}
| footnotes =
}}
[[File:The ship like building of Airtel headquarter.jpg|270px|thumb|The Airtel Tanzania headquarters]]
'''Airtel Tanzania Limited''' is the third-largest [[mobile network operator]] in [[Tanzania]] operated by [[Airtel Africa]], which is a subsidiary of [[Bharti Airtel]] of [[India]], behind [[Vodacom Tanzania]] and [[MIC Tanzania Limited|Tigo Tanzania]]. As of September 2017, Airtel Tanzania had 10.6 million voice subscribers.<ref name="1R">{{cite web| url=https://www.livemint.com/Companies/KACRvJFxH1TPCP7Cc9K6iL/Tanzanian-government-disapproves-of-Airtel-Africa-IPO.html | title=Tanzanian government disapproves of Airtel Africa IPO | date=2 November 2018 |access-date=16 January 2019 |last=Amrit Raj |first=and Navadha Pandey |publisher=Livemint.com |location=New Delhi}}</ref> As of December 2017 according to data provided by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, Airtel Tanzania controlled 27.1 percent of Tanzania's mobile telephone market by customer numbers, at that time estimated at 10.86 million.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=16 January 2019 |date=8 February 2018 | url=https://www.tanzaniainvest.com/telecoms/telecom-penetration-2017 |title=The latest Quarterly Communications Statistics Report by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) for the period October-December 2017 | publisher=Tanzaniainvest.com |author=Tanzaniainvest.com |location=Dar es Salaam}}</ref>

The company is a component of [[Airtel Africa]], the pan African mobile network operator and the largest mobile service provider in [[Africa]] outside of [[South Africa]], active in 14 countries on the continent.<ref name="1R"/><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.vccircle.com/airtel-africa-hires-jpmorgan-citi-six-other-bankers-for-ipo/ |title=Airtel Africa hires JPMorgan, Citi, six other bankers for IPO |date=26 November 2018 |access-date=16 January 2019 |publisher=VCCircle.com |author=Team VCC |location=New Delhi}}</ref>

Airtel Tanzania was the first telecom company to launch [[General Packet Radio Service]]/[[Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution]] (GPRS/EDGE)<ref>[http://www.tz.celtel.com/en/about-us/news/index.html] Celtel introduces first GPRS/EDGE service in Tanzania</ref> service in Tanzanian Market on 3 April 2006. Celtel Tanzania has its headquarters in Celtel House, [[Dar es Salaam]]. On 1 August 2008, Celtel rebranded all of its African operations under the Zain name.

==History==
Airtel Tanzania was the result of partial privatization of TTCL on 23 February 2001. This was one of the first steps towards full liberalization of the market. In the aftermath, [[Celtel|Celtel International]], at that time MSI, which has its headquarters in [[Amsterdam]], [[Netherlands]], together with [[Detecon]] from [[Germany]], obtained 35% shares from the Government of Tanzania.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.si.umich.edu/tprc/papers/2007/711/VanGorpMaitland_TPRC07_TZ.pdf |title=Market Liberalization Strategy: 2001 – present |accessdate=2008-01-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519173732/http://web.si.umich.edu/tprc/papers/2007/711/VanGorpMaitland_TPRC07_TZ.pdf |archivedate=2011-05-19 }}</ref> Thus, the consortium (Celtel International and Detecon) took over Board and Management control of TTCL and thus made it essentially an autonomous company. Celtel is currently owned by sub group originating from UAE.

=== License ===
Celtel Tanzania was licensed as the mobile operator in the country in November 2001. The license was the result of Tanzania Communications Commission (TCC) to decide and to change its zonal licenses into national licenses in 1998. The changes was because the numbers of subscribers in the country was very low (i.e. a total of 37,940 in 1998) and operators were concentrating on a few zones only (i.e. the coastal area near Dar es Salaam and [[Zanzibar]]).

=== Celtel Tanzania partnership ===
During the privatisation of Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL), Celtel International was in partnership with Detecon of Germany. The two companies invested an initial $60 million in TTCL in February 2001 for a 35% shareholding in TTCL. In the new partnership with TTCL, Celtel International agreed to be bound by independent "Expert Determination" in the aftermath of a poor [[financial]] performance of TTCL for the year 2000. Based on this "Expert Determination", Celtel International made an additional $4.96 million payment.

In early August 2005, Celtel Tanzania and TTCL were legally separated, allowing each to administer its own financial and business operations. In this new formally signed agreement between the Tanzanian Government and Celtel Tanzania, TTCL's shareholding structure remained unchanged, with the government of Tanzania holding 65% and Celtel International the remaining 35%. In the aftermath, Celtel Tanzania's structure was changed so as to follow the government’s decision to sell a 25% stake in the cellco to Celtel International for USD28 million.<ref>[http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=8683&email=text] Celtel and TTCL part company</ref>

=== Acquisition by Zain ===
In September 2007 Celtel's Parent Company MTC Group was acquired by [[Zain Group|Zain]] (Arabic for 'beautiful, good and wonderful') unifying its different brands in 22 Countries.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url = http://www.zain.com/en/about-us/milestones/|title = Zain - about-us - milestones|date = |accessdate = 2015-08-06|website = |publisher = [[Zain Group]]|last = |first = }}</ref> This led to the rebranding of Celtel Tanzania to Zain Tanzania.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Elinaza |first1=Abduel |title=Tanzania: Zain Changes Name to Airtel |url=https://allafrica.com/stories/201011230343.html |access-date=11 August 2022 |publisher=[[Daily News (Tanzania)]] |date=22 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130110127/http://allafrica.com/stories/201011230343.html |archive-date=30 November 2010 |location=[[Dar es Salaam, Tanzania]] |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Acquisition by Bharti Airtel ===

On 8 June 2010, [[Bharti Airtel]] struck a deal to purchase of mobile operations in 15 African countries from [[Zain Group| Zain]], a Kuwaiti operator including Zain Tanzania, but excluding Zain Sudan.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Reuters.com]] | url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-zain-bharti-idUSTRE6570VJ20100608 |title=Bharti Closes US$9 Billion Zain Africa Deal |last1=Tripathy |first1=Devidutta |last2=Goma |
first2=Eman |date=8 June 2010 |accessdate=7 September 2014}}</ref> The firm then changed its name to Airtel Tanzania.

==Current ownership==
Following talks in Dar es Salaam, between [[John Magufuli]], the president of Tanzania and [[Sunil Mittal]], the chairman of Bharti Airtel, held in January 2019, the India-based conglomerate agreed to cede more shareholding to the government, in order to settle existing ownership disputes. Following the agreed transfer of shares, the ownership in the company will appear as illustrated in the table below.<ref name="OwnR">{{cite web| url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/business/Tanzania-government-to-acquire-bigger-stake-in-Airtel/2560-4931026-vpgwetz/index.html |title=Tanzania government to acquire bigger stake in Airtel |newspaper=[[The EastAfrican]] Quoting [[Reuters]] |date=11 January 2019 |access-date=16 January 2019 |location=Nairobi}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"
|+ '''Shareholding in Airtel Tanzania stock'''
|-
! style="width:2em;" | Rank
! Name of owner
! % ownership before January 2019
! % ownership after January 2019
|-
| 1 || [[Bharti Airtel]] of [[India]] ||60.0<ref name="OwnR"/>||51.0<ref name="OwnR"/>
|-
| 2 || [[Government of Tanzania]] ||40.0<ref name="OwnR"/>||49.0<ref name="OwnR"/>
|-
| ||'''Total'''||'''100.00'''||'''100.00'''
|-
|}

==One Network==
[[File:Airtel Africa One Network Coverage.svg|thumb|226x226px|Airtel Africa coverage]]
{{see also|airtel Africa}}

As of January 2016, Airtel Africa operates in 17 African countries. Marketed as "One Network", airtel was the first telecom company in Africa to provide a border less solution for its customer across the continent. With this service airtel customer can freely roam in other airtel operating countries and use their phone as a local subscriber.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Airtel Customers in Africa to Now Get Free Incoming Calls While Roaming on its South Asia Network|url = https://appablog.wordpress.com/2012/11/15/airtel-customers-in-africa-to-now-get-free-incoming-calls-while-roaming-on-its-south-asia-network/|website = Database of Press Releases related to Africa - APO-Source|accessdate = 2016-01-06}}</ref> This service has been extended to [[India]], [[Bangladesh]] and [[Sri Lanka]] where airtel Africa users would not have to change their sim cards to operate freely in the three Asian nations.<ref>{{Cite web|title = AIRTEL Customers in AFRICA to Get FREE Incoming Calls While International Roaming in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh|url = http://telecomtalk.info/airtel-cuctomers-africa-free-incoming-calls-international-roaming-india-sri-lanka-bangladesh/102789/#more-102789|website = Telecom Talk|publisher = |accessdate = 2016-01-06|language = en-US}}</ref>

Recharging while roaming on the "One Network" can be done both in local currency or can be done remotely from one's home country. The airtel money services do not work across borders. However, there are plans to implement airtel money between Kenya and Tanzania.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Airtel Ghana|url = http://africa.airtel.com/wps/wcm/connect/africarevamp/ghana/home/personal/premier/one-network|website = africa.airtel.com|accessdate = 2016-01-06}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.tz.celtel.com/en/ tz.celtel.com]
* [http://www.celtel.com/en/index.html Celtel's official website]

{{Authority control}}
{{Bharti Enterprises}}
{{Tanzania telecom operators}}

[[Category:Telecommunications companies of Tanzania]]
[[Category:Telecommunications companies established in 2001]]
[[Category:2001 establishments in Tanzania]]
[[Category:Bharti Airtel]]
[[Category:Mobile phone companies of Tanzania]]

Airtel Tanzania - Revision history

DianaX6283 at 10:59, 4 December 2025