Telecommunications in Tanzania

Telephone and fax in Tanzania

The yellow TTCL cardphones have been installed in Tanzania’s towns but they are seldom used and frequently vandalized. Furthermore, often the only place where you can buy the cards themselves is from a Telecom building anyway. The TTCL Telcards come in denominations of 10, 20, 40, 100, 150 and 500 units. Even if you do manage to secure the correct phonecard and find a phone that will accept it and hasn’t been vandalized beyond use, there is still no guarantee that you’ll be able to make a call.

If you are having trouble ringing home from Tanzania, try to tack an extra ‘0’ on to the front of the international dialling code: for example, if you wish to ring the UK but the phone continues to bar your call, dial 00044 (or 000144) rather than just 0044 (or 00144).

Given this hassle, you may consider it worthwhile spending a little more and using the phone service at the Tanzanian Telecom buildings, of which there is one in every major town (including Moshi and Arusha). Most Telecom offices open from 8am until 10pm on weekdays.

The procedure is simple: pick up a scrap of paper from the counter; if the office is posh you will have a form to fill out, but if it’s not then you’ll just have to write the name and number of the person you wish to call and how long you wish the call to last. Hand it over and the operator will dial the number and direct you to a booth where you can take the call. If you did not speak for your alloted time, the operators are usually scrupulously fair in giving back the correct change; if you do speak for the full number of minutes, the operator will come online to tell you when your time is up.

Mobile phones in Tanzania

One of the reasons why placing a call with a landline is still rather inefficient is because of the inordinate rise in popularity of mobile phones in Tanzania – to the extent that anyone who can afford one, has one. If you’re in Tanzania a while and need to make a lot of phone calls it may be worth investing in a SIM card (Ts2000) and a pay-as-you-go voucher from one of the many mobile phone kiosks that have sprouted up over the past few years. If your existing phone is unlocked you can put the SIM card straight in there; if not, you can pick a phone up cheaply in Tanzania.

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