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Sharing a network greatly reduces the expenses borne by telecommunication service
providers, and this in turn reduces the cost of the service for customers. Despite the
role played by shared network infrastructure to rural communication, shared network
has not been optimally utilised in Tanzania. The study intended to determine the
viability of sharing network infrastructure in Tanzania.
The study used a case study research design where telecommunication
companies located in Dar es Salaam were selected. Purposive sampling was used to
obtain all respondents who participated in the study. This technique was used because
some of the respondents were not available at the time of data collection and others
had been assigned duties out of the office. A total of 50 participants were interviewed
between January and March 2018.
Results show that study participants were aware of different forms of network
sharing in the area such as fiber network sharing, satellite telecommunication network
sharing, mobile roaming network sharing, and network sites network sharing. The
majority perceived that sharing is beneficial to mobile operators as they are able to
share resources, lower costs, and generate extra revenue for operators. Challenges
identified included infrastructure sharing which could hinder competition due to
reduced control and increased independence between operators, as there is a perceived
notion that sharing might expose operators to risks. Better ways of implementing
mobile infrastructure sharing amongst mobile operators were linked to the
technological factors in the sense that deployment of new technologies and the higher
the compatibility of existing technologies or system, the high the adoption of mobile
infrastructure. |
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