THE majority of telecommunications service providers in Tanzania are operating in full compliance with the quality of service regulations established by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), a recent update has indicated.

Dr Jabiri Bakari, the TCRA director-general, said in a report for the last quarter of 2025 that all five mobile network operators performed exceptionally well. A survey conducted by the regulator assessed mobile network operators as well as postal and courier companies, to determine their adherence to statutory operational standards, he said.

The sector performance report noted that the licensees met or exceeded targets across several critical metrics, including network availability, call connection success and the provision of mobile communications and data services. 

Additionally operators demonstrated high efficiency in short message service (SMS) delivery times, call setup times and overall voice service quality, with all scores surpassing the 90 percent threshold, it affirmed

Network availability is the measure of how accessible the network remains when phone holders seek to use mobile services, while the call connection success rate was determined by the percentage of calls that successfully connected after dialling, while the call drop rate tracked calls cut off due to technical reasons before ending the conversation, it said. 

Furthermore, service coverage measurements examined the strength of operator signals, with data speed calculated on the transfer rate of files from a protocol server to a mobile device, it explained.

In terms of specific user experience, the report highlighted that call setup time—the number of seconds it takes for a call to connect—remained within the compliance threshold of under eight seconds. 

Voice service quality was also rated highly based on the perceived audio clarity during conversations, with the mobile licensees excelling while other sectors faced significant compliance challenges.

The broadcasting sector showed mixed results, as 12 of the 16 television stations assessed failed to adhere to their submitted programme line-ups, and four stations neglected to submit schedules entirely, violating radio and television content regulations, the report noted. 

Similarly, four of the 12 radio stations inspected did not follow their submitted schedules but despite these lapses most stations remained compliant with requirements for diverse programming, including educational content and the mandate to broadcast at least 90 minutes of news daily, the regulator affirmed.

The postal and courier sector also displayed varied performance levels as out of 20 domestic courier service providers, 12 met the requirements for same-day delivery. In a separate category involving a two-day delivery provision, only seven out of 17 assessed licensees managed to meet the established targets, it specified.

TCRA reminded operators following the release of the findings that the regulator has initiated procedural action against licensees who failed to meet the quality of service parameters. 

TCRA seeks to enforce the Electronic and Postal Communications (Quality of Service) Regulations to ensure that consumers across all sectors receive the standards of service they are entitled tom it added.