high-speed internet hits Arusha

Smile Communications (Tanzania), a company that specialiases in providing high speed Internet services, has opened for business in Arusha. Smile deals in the new 4G LTE.

Arusha, located to the northern part of Tanzania with booming developments and the headquarters of the East African Community, becomes the second place after the initial launch in Dar es Salaam during May this year.

These developments make Tanzania the first country in Africa to gain access to this revolutionary technology of its ultra-high speed broadband Internet access, the Fourth Generation Long Term Evolution (4G LTE) billed as the cutting-edge fourth -generation mobile technology.

Speaking in Arusha recently, Fiona McGloin, the Country Manager for Smile Communications in Tanzania and Uganda, said Smile was confident that providing reliable, high speed Internet will significantly contribute to the success of Arusha. Smile hopes to give Arusha a faster , more reliable and cost effective service.

Arusha is famed for its cosmopolitan city with regional and International Institutions and Organizations such as the EAC, Africa's Human Right Court, Commonwealth Regional Health Secretariat, WWF and more, including institutions of higher learning, corporate businesses, tour and travel agents as well as SMEs, NGOs and residents.

"Smile Communications Tanzania rolls out the high speed Internet to Arusha that is comparable to the speed and quality enjoyed in Europe, said Ms McGloin adding that Tanzania was the first country to be connected with the fastest, most reliable Internet service at a transparent competitive price and high-level customer satisfaction and service".

The Arusha launch came in on the sidelines of the 10 year celebration of the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA), cited by Smile Communications Tanzania as a regulatory authority which factors in conducive investment policies.

McGloin said that the laying of the fiber optic cables has to a greater extent boosted Internet uptake by people for development - all being the motivating factors for Smile to invest in Tanzania.

source: www.allafrica.com

eight regions to get fast ethernet services

AS Tanzania becomes the first country in Africa to roll out the high-speed 4th Generation (4G) internet services, the company behind this data-specific advanced coverage, intends to link six more regions within second quarter of 2014.

Speaking at the launch of the Smile Communications' 4G internet services in Arusha on the backbone of the Long Term Evolution (LTE), Ms Fiona McGloin, the company's country manager for Tanzania and Uganda said the firm will also offer free such services to public schools in each and every region under their coverage.

Before the Arusha launch, Smile Communications dished out a whopping 20 gigabytes of free data to the Arusha Secondary School's computer laboratory with promise to include a few more education institutions in their free service gifts listing.

After Dar-es-Salaam and Arusha, six more regions (those linked with fiber-optic cabling network) will be included in the Smile high-speed internet network before next June, thus making the number to reach eight and counting.

Speaking via LTE enabled 'Skype' from Dar-es-salaam, Mr Innocent Mungy, the communications manager with the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) said the country is proving to be a leader in innovative technology around the region and Smile's endeavors complements TCRA's ten years of achievements.

Official figures indicate that Arusha, the hub of Tanzania's tourism industry, ranks second after Nairobi when it comes to highest usage of internet services in East and Central African region, beating even Dar-es-Salaam and Kampala.

Arusha City was the first to offer its residents with email services back in 1994 when the concept was still a mystery to most parts of East Africa.

Before Smile Communications Tanzania (Smile) introduced Africa's first high-speed data in Dar-es-Salaam City, back in May, the country's fastest data offering fell back on the regular, but often limited, Third-Generation (3G or 3.5G) being offered by existing telecommunications' companies such as Airtel, Tigo and Vodacom whose data streams have to share with their respective voice channeling.

"But as far as Smile-4G is concerned we are specifically targeting data (internet) services only though in future we plan to roll-out trials for voice calling services," explained the firm's country manager, adding that, the LTE high speed connections will enable online business, video conferencing and faster downloading reaching 60 megabytes per second which is six-times faster 

source:www.alafrica.com