Zain Tanzania sees FY user number boost, flat sales

By Katrina Manson

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Zain Tanzania expects to post flat full-year revenues even though user numbers are seen rising strongly to year-end, as the global economic slowdown caps customer spending, a senior executive said on Monday.

Khaled Muhtadi, managing director of Zain Tanzania, part of Kuwait's Zain, told Reuters he expected customer numbers to keep climbing but saw flat revenue growth in 2009.

"We see 5.2 million customers by the end of this year, up from 4.8 million currently, and aim to reach 6.0 million at the end of next year," Muhtadi said in an interview on Monday.

"Revenue ... was $328 million for 2008. We don't expect much growth in 2009. The revenue has been rather flat and a lot slower than expected because of the world economic situation," he said, fanning himself in the torpor of the humid port city.

The telecommunications sector is one of the fastest growing in the east African nation of 40 million people. Government statistics show it grew by 20.5 percent last year, up slightly from 20.1 percent the year before.

Zain holds a 36 percent market share, close to main competitor Vodacom Tanzania, a unit of the South African company jointly owned by Telkom and Britain's Vodafone.

Other mobile firms operating in Tanzania include Zantel, a unit of Emirates Telecommunications Corp, and Tigo, part of Millicom.

Many Tanzanians have been looking forward to faster internet and more data services following the arrival in July of a new undersea fibre optic cable from South African company Seacom.