Airtel Tanzania Limited is the third-largest mobile network operator in Tanzania, part of Airtel Africa, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel from India. It ranks behind Vodacom Tanzania and Tigo Tanzania. As of September 2017, Airtel Tanzania boasted 10.6 million voice subscribers. By December 2017, the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority reported that Airtel Tanzania controlled 27.1% of the mobile telephone market, with around 10.86 million customers.

A Key Player in Africa

Airtel Tanzania is part of Airtel Africa, which is the largest mobile service provider in Africa outside South Africa, operating in 14 countries across the continent.

On April 3, 2006, Airtel Tanzania was the first telecom company to launch GPRS/EDGE service in the Tanzanian market. The company’s headquarters, known as Celtel House, is located in Dar es Salaam. On August 1, 2008, Celtel rebranded all its African operations under the Zain name.

A Brief History of Airtel Tanzania

Airtel Tanzania emerged from the partial privatization of TTCL on February 23, 2001, marking one of the first steps toward full market liberalization. Following this, Celtel International (formerly MSI), based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, along with Detecon from Germany, acquired 35% of TTCL’s shares from the Government of Tanzania. This partnership gave them control over the board and management, turning TTCL into a more autonomous company. Today, Celtel is owned by a subgroup from the UAE.