LOCAL telecommunication service provider Vodacom Tanzania has expressed commitment to take a leading role in environment protection including using technology to control production of carbon in its operations.

Glorius Kimaro head of environment and energy department at Vodacom Tanzania said in an interview on ‘Space’ that the company was now turning to Artificial Intelligence and other technologies to end production of carbon footprints in the sector which uses a lot of energy in generating power for connectivity especially on telecom towers.

“The company works to end use of generators by connecting to the national grid and reduce use of fossil fuels but also embrace technology, especially automation to control production of carbon and upgrade our tools and equipment so that they use less fuel,” she said.

The company was also using smart top up vouchers which are environmentally friendly to compliment government effort in mitigating climate change effects.

The company’s network director Andrew Lupembe  the company has rolled out several strategies to increase internet connectivity in remote areas to facilitate businesses and contribute to economic growth.

He said the company was now rolling out 4G and 5G technologies across Tanzania to ensure there is connectivity at all-time but also introduced a campaign where consumers can access smart phones through loans as well installation of individual fibre connections to households and offices.

“So far we have started launching 5G connections in major cities in the country and we are now in 17 regions, not that we have blanket coverage but we have put our focus on the Central Business District (CBD), it is a continuous process as we move to deploy internet tools,” he said.

According to Lupembe, the plan was to ensure that there is at least minimum broadband services in rural areas, with the company carrying out inspection programmes when deploying services in remote areas and others which follow up on the efficiency but also carry out upgrades from time to time so that the services remain active.

Luoembe said there is a need for the country to have a strategy to attract more investment into the communication sector, mostly cable communication so that the country should have more than one route.

“Resilience in a country is essential because the internet is not just a service but a lifeline and we need to have a deliberate campaign to attract more investment into the sector,” he said.

He said the company was in the development phase to ensure the resilience of the network in various regions across the country in collaboration with stakeholders.

 On coverage and internet adaptability Lupembe said the company has initiated several programmes to ensure consumers access smart phones to facilitate use of the internet.

Data from the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) on data consumption, consumers use an average three GB per day which is even lower compared to neighboring countries.

He said the company has already rolled out an individual fibre connection campaign which allows connection to offices and households to increase internet connectivity in the country.

TCRA also shows as of March this year there were 72 million active mobile lines which is an increase of 3-percent and out of the lines where Vodacom owns 30-percent of the market share and 36,800 million of the lines are for internet while 24.4 million use 4G, 5G high speed internet.