Mobile firms reminded of their social service obligations

ANTHONY TAMBWE

MOBILE phone companies have once again been reminded of their responsibility to support communities in their areas of operation. Speaking during the conclusion of the Infrastructure Parliamentary Accounts Committee working tour of over 20 regions of the country, the committee’s Deputy Chairman, Selemani Kakoso, said it was sad to note that most mobile phone companies concentrated their efforts in urban areas when it comes to community support, forgetting that rural communities needed the services the most.

He reminded them that in the contracts that they had signed with the government, there was a clause which required them to invest in community services in health, education, water and sports sectors, among others, whereby they were supposed to support or implement projects for the benefit the rural community.
“Your companies have signed contracts with the government, where you promised to spearhead ICT projects in schools, but in almost all the areas that we visited these projects are not implemented,” he said.
The deputy chairman reiterated the need for mobile phone companies to extend their services to border regions, which rely on communication services from neighboring countries, saying that it portrays a poor image to the residents.
The tour which was organised by Universal Communication Service Access Fund (UCSAF) saw the legislators forming the infrastructure committee splitting into two groups, with one group heading to the Southern parts of the country through Coast, Lindi, Mtwara, Ruvuma, Njombe, Mbeya,Songwe, Rukwa, Katavi, Kigoma, Kagera and Geita regions, while the other group headed to the Northern parts of the country through Morogoro, Tanga, Kilimanjaro, Arusha,Manyara, Singida, Dodoma, Tabora, Shinyanga, Mwanza and Mara regions.
Mr Kakoso, who is also the Mpanda Rural Member of Parliament, said that with rural population growing at an alarming rate, mobile phone companies should think of extending their coverage to remote parts of the country where business transactions also take place.
He expressed misgivings over the fact that most phone companies were crowding in major towns, competing for space while neglecting rural areas.“As a committee, we observed how companies crowd in the same areas, because once a company constructs its communication tower in one urban area, the rest of the companies rush in and put up their towers as well.
We need to see you widening your scopes and cover village areas, because they are expanding at a fast rate,” he said.
Responding, Vodacom Network Engineer George Magonyozi said that initially, when they started operating in rural areas, they did not know that the response would be huge, and currently, their towers were sometimes overwhelmed by the number of subscribers, but plans were at an advanced stage to curb the problem.