Tanzania’s mobile penetration shows a ‘significant rise’ in 2024

This marks a significant rise from the previous year, when there were 57.42-million mobile connections, amounting to 86.4% of the population. 

However, accurately assessing mobile penetration remains challenging due to the prevalence of multiple-SIM usage, as highlighted in the ‘Mobile Phone and App Usage in Africa Survey’. 

Importantly, mobile connectivity enables greater internet penetration. Mobile technology, including services like Vodacom’s M-Pesa and Tigo Pesa, has revolutionised the finance, education and healthcare sectors.  

Tanzania positioned to harness benefits of Fourth Industrial Revolution 

In a blog post published last week, Newton Adika, Digital Marketing Specialist at market research firm Geopoll, says this means Tanzania is well-positioned to harness the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for inclusive growth and sustainable development. 

The growing tech startup ecosystem, supported by incubators and accelerators, drives economic development and job creation. 

“Industry reports show that Tanzania has experienced a significant increase in mobile internet adoption in recent years,” Adika writes in the blog post. 

“As of February 2024, approximately 81% of mobile connections in Tanzania were broadband, ranging from 3G to 5G. This represents an increase from 60% in the previous year, indicating a continuing upward trend.” 

Looking specifically at the mobile banking sector, Adika says mobile money adoption in Tanzania increased from 60% in 2017 to 72% in 2023, according to the ‘FinScope Tanzania 2023’ report. 

However, the country is still trailing behind regional neighbours such as Kenya and Uganda in adopting mobile money for airtime purchases, for example. 

You can read the full blog post here.