A couple of weeks ago Vodacom Tanzania became the first mobile network in Tanzania to roll out 5G Internet services starting with Dar Es Salaam with plans to expand services to other major cities and towns throughout Tanzania. This makes Vodacom Tanzania really the first mobile network in East Africa to truly bring 5G services to the region at scale and naturally, I wanted to get more insights on how this happened and the next steps.

Through my previous interactions with contacts at Vodacom Tanzania earlier this year I was able to secure this podcast interview with Andrew Lumpembe who is their Networks Director this afternoon and he shared insights on what it took to achieve 5G for their network. As things stand, Dar Es Salaam is where they are live and will have 200+ sites live in a few months' time in Arusha, Dodoma, Mwanza, Iringa, Kagera, Zanzibar, Mbeya, etc. 

Andrew was able to give me a fairly detailed timeline on what its taken to take Vodacom Tanzania from 2G in the early 2000s all the way through 3G, 4G, and now 5G. One major factor seems to be that Tanzania's regulator availed frequency spectrum at no additional cost in the move from 3G to 5G so this was obviously a major factor for the successful rollout. Have a listen here.