Dar es Salaam. Airtel Africa CEO Segun Ogunsanya Thursday hailed Tanzania’s transparency in frequency auctions, saying it meets international standards that is not seen in many countries.

Mr Ogunsanya spoke during a function to launch the 2Africa Submarine Cable and Airtel’s 5G High-Speed Communication Technology in Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan graced the launching ceremony.

“The auction was fair and very transparency auction process,” Mr Ogunsanya said, as his company joined its competitors Tigo and Vodacom, which launched their 5G networks earlier this year. “We don’t see this in many countries.”

Tanzania has just finalised the sale of several spectrum blocks dedicated to 4G and 5G access in Tanzania.

The blocks included the 700 MHz band: One (1) block of 2 x 10 MHz; 2300 MHz band: Two (2) blocks of 1 x 35 MHz; 2600 MHz band; Three (3) blocks of 2 x 15 MHz and one block of 1 x 20 MHz and 3500 MHz band: Four (4) blocks of 1 x 40 MHz.

The sale was concluded on October 11, 2022, but Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) publicly shared all processes.

This includes the auction notice, which set the whole process, responses to questions and comments from bidders, information memorandum, and the auction results.

The auction saw Vodacom winning one block of 700 MHz (FDD), two blocks of 2300 MHz (TDD), and one block of 2600 MHz (TDD) at USD 63.2 Million.

Airtel (T) PLC won two blocks of 3500 MHz (TDD) and two blocks of 2600 MHz (FDD) at USD 60.1 Million.

MIC (T) PLC (Tigo) won two blocks of 3500 MHz (TDD) at USD 34,000,000.00, and Viettel (T) PLC (Halotel) won one block 2600 MHz (FDD) at USD 30,169,000.00.

The new blocks are expected to increase Tanzania’s 4G coverage which stood at 50 per cent of the population until June 2023.