Official Inauguration of the Telecommunications Traffic Monitoring System (TTMS) in Tanzania

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, March 24, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

An infrastructure provided by SGS-Société Générale de Surveillance and Global Voice Group for the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority

The consortium made of SGS-Société Générale de Surveillance and Global Voice Group  (SGS/GVG) is proud to announce the official inauguration of the Telecommunications Traffic Monitoring System (TTMS) implemented by the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA). The inauguration ceremony took place on the 27^th of February of this year on the TCRA's premises, which hosts the network operations center, in the presence of the Tanzanian President, His Excellency M. Jakaya Kikwete, and of several representatives of the regulator and the government.  

     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140324/675415 )

For the TCRA and the government, this monitoring system represents an important step forward in the regulation of telecommunications, which is a crucial and strategic sector as far as the socioeconomic development of Tanzania is concerned. It provides the authorities with the technological solutions required to measure and analyze key aspects of the sector in an independent way, with a view of ensuring both regulatory compliance and the exhaustive collection of the levies to be collected by the State.

The TTMS project includes several components. Some of these components, such as the volumetry and the billing of the international traffic entering Tanzania, as well as the detection and elimination of international communications by-pass fraud, have been operational since October 2013 and have already yielded tangible results. Other components, which are being prepared with the technical assistance of SGS/GVG, will provide the capabilities to fight against mobile devices theft and counterfeiting, as well as the monitoring of mobile money transactions.  

Prof. John Nkoma, Director General of the TCRA, made the following statement during the inauguration ceremony, "Before the installation of this system, it was very difficult to know the exact traffic and unscrupulous people were using illegal and unlicensed international networks [in order to route calls to Tanzania] that led to the government and legal service providers losing revenue."

Referring to the rapid growth of mobile telephony in Tanzania - today there are nearly 10 times the amount of SIM cards in service (28 million) as compared to 2005 (2.9 million)^[1] - the Tanzanian Minister of Communication, Science and Technology, His Excellency Prof. Makame Mbarawa also highlighted the positive impact of the project by stating, "The TTMS will not only facilitate the government to collect its taxes but also enable mobile operators to increase their revenues."

The government estimated that the project would generate additional revenue of 20 billion TZS per year, solely through the monitoring of international incoming calls. According to President Kikwete, "It is a commendable move, making almost 20 billion per annum from zero is a very promising step."

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1. International Telecommunication Union (ITU); mobile-cellular subscriptions statistics
(http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/stat/default.aspx)

About GVG

Founded in 1998, GVG develops and implements governance technologies that were specifically designed with telecoms regulators and tax authorities in mind. Currently, its advanced traffic, fraud and quality of service management systems are successfully used in several countries, such as Congo-Brazzaville, Guinea-Conakry, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, Liberia, the Central African Republic, Senegal and Togo. GVG is a member of the International Telecommunication Union and the recipient of the 2014 Frost & Sullivan Best Practice Award for its innovation in telecoms management technologies

About SGS in Tanzania

SGS Tanzania Superintendence Co Ltd has been active in Tanzania since 1962 and has accumulated more than 50 years of experience in working with the Tanzanian government and its different bodies, as well as with the population. SGS is the most important inspection firm in Tanzania, with more than 350 employees working in different regions of the country. The company has its head office in Dar es Salaam and offices in Tanga, Mtwara, Kigoma, Mwanza and Zanzibar, as well as on the mining sites of the Lake zone.  

About SGS

SGS is the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 80,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 1,650 offices and laboratories around the world."  

CONTACT

For further information, please contact:

SGS: Sainath Naidu, Project Manager, Sainath.Naidu@sgs.com  or Yves Jobin, Director of Business Development, Yves.Jobin@sgs.com

GVG: Michel Cauchy, Director of Corporate Communications, mcauchy@globalvoicegroup.com