Villagers commend govt for ‘Tower boost’ subsidy

MATERN KAYERA

MKULULA residents at Malenga Makali Ward in Iringa Rural District have commended the government for facilitating communication services in their area, by constructing for them a boost mobile phone tower.

The tower which is being operated by Tigo Company was constructed by the government through the Universal Communications Service Access Fund (UCSAF) at a cost of 260m/-.

The villagers also requested the government and the Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure, which is currently touring their areas to inspect the tower, to inform Tigo Company to further ‘improve communication’, saying they are facing a recurrent communication fault from 7 pm to midnight.

One of them, Adela Kivaya, confided to the Committee that they wished there could be other mobile phone companies to invest in their village to compete with Tigo Company for improvements to be there.

“We thank the Government for building us this tower, but, there are times we don’t get communication, so, we request other companies to come and invest in our village as competitors of the present company,” said Kivaya.

On his side, the Village Chairman, Samwel Mbande, told the Committee Members that the communication tower built with a subsidy of the government would not only help the villagers, but also small scale gold miners at Nyakavangala village.

He said that due to the ongoing mining activities in the area, the number of subscribers has increased and that was overloading the only server there and results into poor communication service.

On her part, Iringa Member of Parliament (MP), Suzana Mgonokulima who also formed part of the Parliamentary Committee, said that if communication service would be improved, it will enable Malenga Makali Ward residents to have access to several markets for their crops like maize and sunflower.

In a related development, the Vice-Chairperson of the Committee, Hawa Chakoma, advised the government to closely supervise the companies which receive its subsidies to improve their communication network by using 3G and 4G and keep pace with the increasing population’s demand there.