China impetus of Tanzanian Internet infrastructure development

Chinese investment in Tanzania has given great impetus to the country' s Internet infrastructure development, a Tanzanian government official said in Wuzhen on Wednesday.

With the help of Chinese telecommunication companies, more Tanzanian people have Internet access, said Tanzanian Minister of Communication, Science and Technology Makame M. Mbarawa while attending the First World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, in eastern China's Zhejiang Province.

Tanzanian telecommunication sector has made huge improvement over the years, in people's access to the Internet, increase of mobile phone subscribers and even the use of mobile payment, said Makame. "The company who did this is China International Communication Construction Company, which has built the backbone transmission network for Tanzania."

Makame said the backbone transmission network has connected main cities of Tanzania and even helped link optical cables of neighboring countries to submarine optical fiber cables in Eastern and Southern Africa such as Burundi, Malawi and Uganda.

The backbone transmission network, which now has more than 7,560 kilometers throughout the country, was started in June 2010 and will continue its construction, said the minister.

Makame is one of the guest speakers at the conference, which brought together about 1,000 representatives from Internet companies regulatory agencies and research institutions. They will share ideas and insights on topics such as global Internet governance, mobile Internet, cross-border e-commerce, cyber security and terrorism.