Tanzania's Telecom Subscriptions Cross 117 Million As Data Usage Surges 12% In Q2 2026

Tanzania's communications sector posted another quarter of broad-based growth, according to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority's (TCRA) Communications Sector Performance Report for the quarter ending June 2026. Every major segment, telecoms, internet, broadcasting and mobile money, expanded, while SMS traffic and cable TV subscriptions were the notable exceptions. Subscriptions and market share Total telecom subscriptions rose 4.51%, from 111.9 million in March 2026 to 117.0 million by June, taking penetration to 167.0%. Mobile lines made up 99.9% of the total, with fixed lines accounting for the remainder. Dar es Salaam remained the country's largest market by a wide margin, with 21.53 million subscriptions, more than the next four regions combined. Mwanza (7.75 million), Arusha (7.04 million), Mbeya (6.73 million) and Dodoma (6.24 million) rounded out the top five. Vodacom held the largest share of subscriptions at 33.0%, ahead of Yas (28.6%), Airtel (20.5%), Halotel (16.4%) and TTCL (1.5%). Men continued to outnumber women in service uptake, 59.5 million versus 56.2 million P2P subscriptions despite women making up a larger share of the population. Internet and data consumption Internet subscriptions grew 6.48% to 62.79 million, lifting internet penetration to 89.7%. Mobile broadband remained the dominant access method, accounting for 59.84% of all internet subscriptions, with 2G still carrying meaningful usage at 24.6 million subscriptions. Data traffic climbed 11.65% quarter-on-quarter to 1,041 petabytes. YouTube and TikTok were the two heaviest-consuming platforms, at 198,754 GB and 164,650 GB respectively, followed by Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Fixed broadband users saw average download speeds of 31.77 Mbps and latency of 15.67 ms, though performance varied considerably by operator and region, Katavi recorded the weakest average latency (121.28 ms) of any measured service area. 5G rollout continued but remains a work in progress: population coverage reached 34.18% and geographical coverage just 11.34%, against 2G's near-universal 98.66% population coverage. Voice, SMS and quality of service Local voice traffic rose 7.44% to 48.82 billion minutes, while SMS traffic slipped marginally by 0.05% to 55.05 billion messages, a trend TCRA attributes to voice and data substituting for text as affordability improves. Across the industry, quality-of-service scores averaged 96.6%, with TTCL scoring highest (98.1%) and Halotel lowest (94.5%). Fraudulent attempts on networks fell sharply, down 25.29% from 9,816 to 7,334 cases, though Rukwa and Morogoro regions still accounted for the bulk of reported incidents. Mobile money keeps climbing Mobile money subscriptions grew 7.5% to 87.05 million accounts, with M-Pesa holding the largest share at 40.6%, followed by Mixx by Yas (32.0%) and Airtel Money (16.4%). Transaction volumes rose 5.38% to nearly 711 million transactions for the quarter, a slower pace of growth than earlier in the year, suggesting the market may be maturing. Broadcasting and postal services Pay-TV decoders increased 8.18% to 2.26 million, with satellite-based Direct-to-Home (DTH) services now accounting for 75.8% of subscriptions against Digital Terrestrial Television's (DTT) 24.2%. Azam Media dominated the decoder market with a 74% share. Cable TV subscriptions moved the opposite direction, falling 8.18% to 16,347, a pattern TCRA links to subscribers switching to DTH as choice and affordability improve. Postal and courier volumes told a mixed story. Domestic posted items fell 9.9% to 492,335, which TCRA attributes to growing use of digital communication channels. International posted items, by contrast, jumped 40.8% to 45,850, and international deliveries rose 52.2% to 67,800, growth the regulator links to expanding cross-border trade. The bigger picture TCRA frames the quarter's results as consistent with Tanzania's Digital Economy Strategic Framework (2024–2034) and Vision 2050, pointing to sustained competition among operators as the main driver of affordability and access. The regulator's own data backs that framing: average bundle tariffs remained well below basic pay-as-you-go rates across voice, SMS and data throughout the quarter. The clearest gap in the numbers is infrastructure-linked adoptio, smartphone penetration sits at just 44.7% even as network coverage approaches saturation, and 5G geographical coverage remains under 12%. That gap is arguably the more interesting story for the next few quarters: the networks are largely built, but device affordability and 5G rollout will decide how much of that capacity actually gets used. FAQ How many people in Tanzania have a mobile phone subscription? As of June 2026, there were 117.0 million telecom subscriptions recorded, giving a penetration rate of 167.0% (some individuals hold more than one SIM). Which mobile operator has the largest market share in Tanzania? Vodacom leads with 33.0% of subscriptions, followed by Yas (28.6%), Airtel (20.5%), Halotel (16.4%) and TTCL (1.5%). What is Tanzania's internet penetration rate? 89.7% as of June 2026, with 62.79 million internet subscriptions. Why did cable TV subscriptions fall while decoders grew? TCRA attributes the divergence to consumers switching from cable to satellite-based Direct-to-Home (DTH) services, which now make up 75.8% of pay-TV subscriptions.