COLUMN: TANZANIA TRENDS. We have the phones, let us unlock digital power

IN Tanzania today, there are more mobile lines than people. Yes, you read that right. As of Q1 2025, mobile subscriptions in the country have hit a record 90.4 million, while the population is estimated at 67.5 million.

That gives us a telecom penetration rate of 133.9 per cent, meaning many Tanzanians own more than one SIM card, and some probably don’t even know where all their SIMs are.

But beneath this impressive growth lies a much deeper, more important question: Are we truly connected or are we just counting connections? The numbers are quite remarkable.

• Telecom subscriptions rose from 86.8million in December 2024 to 90.4million in March 2025, a 4.1 per cent quarter-over-quarter growth.

• Internet subscriptions hit 49.3million in Q1 2025, up 2.7 per cent from Q4 2024.

• Mobile Money Users reached 65.7million, growing by over 1.3 million in just three months. If you’re looking at the surface, it looks like a digital economy firing on all cylinders.

Tanzania is part of a broader East African wave: last year alone, East Africa added 32 per cent of the world’s new mobile money users. Globally, over 4.6 billion US dollars flows through mobile money systems every single day. And Tanzania home to 61.9 million registered mobile money accounts is one of the key contributors. That’s more accounts than we have citizens.

This is where the story gets more complicated. Despite the growth, over 80 per cent of mobile money transactions in Tanzania still revolve around just two basic use cases: P2P transfers (sending money to friends/family) and airtime top-ups.

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That’s it. We have this massive infrastructure phones, networks, digital wallets but we’re mostly using it to send 2,000/- to a sibling in Dodoma or to buy 1GB of data.

Here’s one reason this is happening: Devices. Of Tanzania’s 56.86million mobile phone users, only 23.41million own smartphones that’s just 36 per cent smartphone penetration. That means the majority still rely on basic feature phones. So, most apps, services, or fintech innovations that require a screen, data, or typing are out of reach for over half the population.

To truly unlock mobile money’s potential, we need more smartphone financing, device subsidies, and apps that work even on low-cost handsets or USSD menus. Let’s zoom out. Every unused mobile loan, untracked delivery, uninsured crop, and unbanked worker is a missed economic multiplier.

In short, mobile money isn’t just a tool. It could be an economic accelerator. But only if we stop using it like a glorified airtime scratch card. Right now, the room is full. Telcos, fintech, banks, regulators, investors everyone’s here. Everyone’s watching the numbers go up. Subscriptions are rising. Wallets are growing.

The dashboard looks good. But who’s going to be brave enough to change the story? Maybe it’s a fintech that finally stops building for urban 25-year-olds with stable income and starts asking, “How would a tomato vendor in Mbeya use this? What about a young boda driver in Tabora?” Maybe the next fintech revolution doesn’t come from a shiny app but from a simple USSD menu that works offline.

And maybe just maybe it’s the investors who surprise us all. The ones who stop funding the fiftieth ride-hailing app in Dar and start backing startups that can make rural microinsurance work. Or device financing. Or mobile education. One final note: only 48.6 per cent of telecom subscribers are women.

That’s not because women aren’t interested it’s because marketing, services, and devices aren’t tailored to them. Also, 47.2 per cent of all telecom users are concentrated in just 6 urban regions (Dar, Mwanza, Arusha, Mbeya, Dodoma, Morogoro).

The rest of the country still lags. Digital equality is still far from reality. If we stay on this path, we risk plateauing. We’ll have millions of SIM cards, millions of mobile wallets but only scratching the surface of what they could really do.

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But if we change course focus on depth, not just reach Tanzania could become a mobile-first economy that empowers farmers, protects workers, lights up rural homes, and builds credit histories for the unbanked. We’ve built the digital rails. Now it’s time to move something bigger on them.

This article isn’t about celebrating SIM card numbers. It’s about asking the deeper question: What are we building with all this digital infrastructure? If you’re a telco, policymaker, fintech founder, or investor, I hope this data helps you see not just the growth but the gap. Because inside that gap is where the next billion-shilling idea lives.