Vodacom Tanzania covers Belgium

Vodacom Tanzania Ltd now covers an area twice the size of Belgium after increasing its coverage of Tanzania to almost 8% of the East African country`s physical land area of almost one million square kilometres.

Vodacom International Holdings has invested between $160 million and $180 million in Tanzania to date, a vote of confidence in one of Africa`s most promising economies that has pushed Vodacom Tanzania`s total customers over the half-million mark to 550 000 customers.

The rapid expansion of Vodacom Tanzania`s customer base over the past three years is due largely to a special focus on covering roads and rural areas. The road between the administrative capital of Dodoma and the tourist and university town of Morogoro is the most recent addition to Vodacom Tanzania`s coverage map.

Situated near Dar Es Salaam, Morogoro received much attention lately as the hometown of Mwisho, runner-up in Big Brother Africa.

"It is now possible for Tanzanian legislators to travel between Parliament in Dodoma and State House in Dar Es Salaam without leaving cellular coverage," said Andrew Mthembu, Managing Director of Vodacom International Holdings.

Besides investments in coverage, an effective retail strategy and emphasis on world-class customer care are behind Vodacom Tanzania`s market leader position. Tanzania boasts 12 Vodashop retail outlets and the Vodacom logo can be seen in such exotic locations as Zanzibar. Vodacom Tanzania`s Customer Care call centre handles 600 000 queries every month and the company was the first organisation in Tanzania to launch a customer care IVR (integrated voice response) line. Vodacom has also constructed walk-in customer care centres.

"Vodacom Tanzania is providing much-needed services to international business visitors in particular, helping to boost Tanzania`s economic prospects. Advice with roaming, professional customer care staff and reliable coverage all help to convince business visitors that Tanzania is worth investing in," concluded Mthembu.

Vodacom is a pan-African cellular communications company providing a world class GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) service to some 9.5 million customers in SA, Tanzania, Lesotho and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In addition, Vodacom expects to start commercial operations in Mozambique in the next several months.