
Telecommunication in Tanzania
Compared to the United States, Tanzania is massively lagging behind in the development of telecommunications. Under the country code +255, there were a total of 54.12 million connections in 2021. Among them were 54.04 million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 0.85 per person. In the US, this figure is 1.1 mobile phones per person.With about 26,074 webhosts, Tanzania is below the world's average by population. At the end of 2020, 2,281 of these, or about 9 percent, were secured with SSL or comparable encryption.
Back to overview: Tanzania
Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 13.10 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Tanzania ranks 142nd in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 10.02 Mbit/second (123rd place).In mobile internet, i.e., on tablets and smartphones, Tanzania comes 117th with a download speed of 15.91 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 9 Mbit was enough for 93rd place.
The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in December 2022 from 178 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the internet in Tanzania from 1990 - 2020
Broadband internet in Tanzania 2005 - 2021

Landlines 1990 - 2021
Mobile phones 1990 - 2021
Distribution in 2021 | Tanzania Total | Tanzania percent | USA Total | USA percent |
---|---|---|---|---|
Broadband users | 1.24 m | 1.95 % | 127.03 m | 38.27 % |
Landlines | 71,834.00 | 0.11 % | 97.11 m | 29.26 % |
Mobile cellulars | 54.04 m | 84.99 % | 361.62 m | 108.96 % |