KEY COMMUNICATION AND DEVELOPMENT WEBSITES AND PROJECTS

World Bank Country Profile and Projects- Tanzania

African Economic Outlook- Tanzania

World Food Programme- Tanzania

International Fund for Agricultural Development- Tanzania

African Development Bank- Tanzania


Tanzania Governance Indicators


Doing Business in Tanzania

IREX Tanzania Media Sustainability Index

Africa Media Barometer Tanzania 2010 Report

 


Access

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Access to Media

Household access to radio (defined as the percentage of respondents who said they have access to a radio set in their households) is fairly widespread, though there are some differences between income tiers (see Figure 1).

The disparities are more pronounced for household TV access. Household access to television more than triples between income Tier 3 and 4 (highest). For mobile phones, access increases more gradually with each rising income tier. At the highest income tier, radio, television and mobile phone access becomes identical; that is for those at the highest income tier, broadcast media and mobile phones are equally accessible.

Figure 1

Computer and internet access at home is very low and only a few of those in income Tier 4 can claim to enjoy these services at home.

Similar disparities in household access to television and mobile phones are also seen when we break down access by location (urban or rural, see Figure 2).  Television access varies greatly with location – it is double the average for urban residents and is less than half that for rural residents. Regarding mobile phone access, rural residents are only slightly behind the national average although access levels are considerably higher for urban residents.

Radio access remains pretty uniform in both urban and rural areas, making it the most consistently available medium to reach Tanzanians across income levels and locations.

Figure 2

Among the regions  of Tanzania, Dar es Salaam enjoys the highest level of television access (71 percent) of any region. Other regions with moderately high access include Arusha (43 percent), Kilimanjaro and Mwanza (41 percent for both). Other regions are far behind. Household access to mobile phones is also highest in Dar es Salaam (91 percent). Other regions with high mobile access include Rukwa (81 percent), Dodma (79 percent), Tanga (79 percent) and Mwanza (73 percent; more regional analysis in Chapter 3).

Access levels are not greatly affected by other demographic factors -- such as gender and age. Only slight variation exists where men are more likely than women to have access to mobile phones (65 percent versus 59 percent), and among age groups, those between 25-34 and 35-44 are most likely to have mobile access.


Using Mobile and Internet for Accessing Mass Media

Media Convergence Still in Nascent Stages

Throughout Africa, the rise in access to mobile phones also represents a potential boost for access to broadcast media. Those who have access to mobile phones can also listen to radio via their phones (through fitted FM radio receivers, easily available in Africa). Among more urban and affluent Tanzanians, watching video and live television on mobile phones is prevalent.  This is important for overall media development in the country -- it could increase access to and consumption of traditional mass media (radio, television and newspapers) via new platforms (mobile and the internet). Being able to consume mass media in this way also gives access to those who are either travelling or otherwise not close to a radio or television set.

AudienceScapes survey results in Tanzania show that only 13 percent of all weekly mobile phone users listen to the radio on a mobile phone (see chart below and compare with neighboring Zambia where 30 percent of all mobile phone users listen to the radio on their phones).  With 62 percent of the population in Tanzania saying they are weekly mobile users, there is still ample potential for growth for this method of radio listening.

      

In general, using mobile phones to access radio is slightly more common among urban respondents than their rural counterparts; very little variance was observed between men and women. The proportion of listeners increases as income increases. Listening via mobile phones is highest for those 34 and younger (16 percent of mobile users listen this way) and decreases as age increases (between 8 and 9 percent for those 35 and older).  Accessing television via mobile phones is very rare, even among those Tanzanians who have high incomes.

Internet penetration is still very low in Tanzania; only 3 percent of respondents say they used the internet in the past week. Among these, only 7 percent said they use the internet to listen to radio (see chart below: Compare this with neighboring Zambia where 37 percent of internet users listen to radio online).

      

References:

Tanzania Africa Media Development Initiative with BBC- Report available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/trust/researchlearning/story/2006/12/0, 12

Tanzania Report 2010 African Media Barometer. Published by the Media
Institute of South Africa and FES Media Africa. Available here: http://www.misa.org/programme/mediamonitoring/AMB%20Tanzania%202010.pdf , pg 5

Freedom House – Freedom of the Press 2010 http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=251&year=2010&country=7931