Tanzania has been battling reports of a lack of quality in mobile phone calling services in recent months, with telecom operators claiming they are working hard to end the frustration from customers through new strategies and efforts to reduce dropped calls and bad lines. The country's Minister of Communications, Science and Technology Makame Mbarawa said in an exclusive interview with The Citizen, published in full on Monday, that he was looking to boost the country's infrastructure and called on telecom operators to implement new policies to improve services. He said that the government is “watching carefully” the ongoing struggle of mobile phone operators to bolster their infrastructure in order to deal with the rapidly rising number of subscribers in the country. “Customers experience frequent interruptions, jams and poor voice service. When a subscriber decides to use his phone, he does not want to be inconvenienced,” he said. However, the minister also conceded to the fact that the optic fiber, which is to facilitate the broadband services, had not reached every major urban center in the country, adding that once this is completed, some of the current problems would be dealt with. He said that other regional countries in East Africa have been able to overcome the setbacks with a rising number of users through an increase in infrastructure and said the country's regulator is hopeful to be more hands-on in how it deals with local telecom operators. “That's one of their chief responsibilities. It also advises service providers on the measures to take whenever there is sort of a breakdown,” he said.Increasing operation snags in the country's communication sector, just like in many African countries, deny customers optimal value for their money. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/0LsNd Tags: Mobile Phone, Tanzania, Telecom Section: East Africa, Tech
