Mobile Broadband Quality and Traffic Highlights

Tanzania
Mobile Broadband Quality
Interested in understanding the geographic areas where smartphone users face challenges accessing robust 4G/5G mobile broadband signals essential for remote work, education, and telemedicine?
Delve into this location-based analysis leveraging M2's proprietary Mobile Broadband Quality algorithm to identify where users experience Connected, Under-Connected, or Unconnected cellular performance. For more information regarding our algorithm, see our Study Methods presented below.
Table 1. Tanzania Mobile Broadband Quality Location Counts (1km Bins) by MNO
Key Findings for Table 1.
• Table 1 displays the quantity of 1km bins, defined as approximately 1km x 1km locations, in which users from the M2 dataset encountered either no connection, a suboptimal connection, or an optimal connection. Note that location counts are subject to overlapping. A location with more than one MNO reporting will be included in each MNO’s count.

• This study identified a minimum of 5,918 and a maximum of 17,289 unconnected bins (Dead Zones aka Not-Spots), depending on the degree of overlap. This represents between 10% and 29% of the unique bin count (locations reporting at least one quality reading from any of the MNOs in the study).

• This study identified a minimum of 10,408 and a maximum of 31,214 under-connected bins, depending on the degree of overlap. This represents between 17% and 52% of the unique bin count.

• Mobile Broadband Quality data layers including under-connected locations where some users are experiencing poor service on a 4G network type are available as CSV exports. Coordinates and mapping of the Dead Zones are available on M2's Crowd SiteIntel platform.
Table 2. Tanzania Percentage of Records by MNO
Table 3: Tanzania Mobile Broadband Quality Location Percentages by MNO
Key Findings for Table 3.
• Table 3 displays the Mobile Broadband Quality of each operator within their respective network footprint, as derived from the M2 dataset. Results presented in the table are rounded, which may affect totals presented.

• Airtel has the greatest connected location percentage at 70%, while all other MNOs range between 57% and 60% in our dataset.

• Halotel has the greatest under-connected location percentage at 27%, while all other MNOs range between 20% and 26%.

• Airtel has the lowest Dead Zone location percentage at 10%, while all other MNOs range between 14% and 16%.
Mobile Broadband Traffic: How often are mobile phone users connecting on 4G, 5G-SA, and 5G-NSA, as opposed to connecting on 2G and 3G, or receiving No Signal whatsoever?
Unlike other mobile traffic metrics, M2’s analysis does not take payload into consideration because of its potential to bias the analysis (faster networks allow greater data flow). We focus solely on the percentage of measurements categorized by network connection type and the associated cell identities with those measurements from the M2 dataset. Our Cell ID counts are the count of unique Cell IDs by Mobile Network Operator (MNO), Network Type, and Country from our crowdsourced dataset.
Table 1: Tanzania Cell ID Counts by MNO on 4G & 5G Network Types
Key Findings for Table 1.
• Table 1 displays the number of unique Cell IDs newly observed between July and December 2025. As a reference, historically observed Cell IDs dating 18 months prior to July 2025 are also included. Newly observed Cell IDs can be attributed to either new hardware deployed by MNOs or an expansion in the footprint of our dataset.

• M2’s dataset for the 2nd half of 2025 contains 33,263 newly observed 4G/5G mobile broadband Cell IDs. A more in-depth view of the Cell IDs and their associated details by location over time can be visualized on M2's Crowd SiteIntel platform.

• No significant progress has been detected towards increasing deployment on the 5G-SA network.

Your Next Step:

To visualize detailed insights from the M2 dataset utilized for this study, M2 provides Mobile Broadband Quality data layers as CSV exports. These layers are optimized for seamless integration into network planning and GIS tools, such as Esri ArcGIS and comparable platforms.
As part of our suite of solutions, M2 offers Crowd SiteIntel, a powerful data analytics and visualization platform capable of analyzing mobile network performance readings for competitive benchmarking, identifying 'Dead Zones', and more. Experience the capabilities of Crowd SiteIntel today.
Schedule a demo on MNO Competitive Benchmarking.
Learn how to identify Dead Zones using the Crowd SiteIntel platform.
Study Methods:
The extensive dataset for this global study, comprising hundreds of billions of records, was collected between July 1 and December 31, 2025 from mobile applications installed on millions of mobile devices. All data collection was carried out in accordance with our privacy policy, with explicit permission obtained from the owners of the mobile devices.

M2’s proprietary Mobile Broadband Quality algorithm comprehensively evaluates various factors, including signal strength, signal quality, and throughput, across (1) the 4G/5G service footprint for each country's national Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), (2) the 2G/3G-only service footprint for each MNO, and (3) areas where mobile devices are active but unable to detect any service. Within the M2 dataset, each 1km bin with mobile activity is then assessed to determine the highest mobile use case it can support, resulting in its classification as Connected, Under-Connected, or Unconnected.


Right to Republish M2 Reports

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The M2 Crowdsourced Data, which has been developed, collected, aggregated, assembled, formatted, and supplied by M2 through the application of methods and standards of judgment developed and applied through the expenditure of substantial time, effort, and money, constitute confidential and valuable industrial property and trade secrets, and are protected by United States copyright laws and international treaty provisions as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. All title and copyrights in and to the M2 Crowdsourced Data and any accompanying printed materials are owned by M2.

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The M2 Crowdsourced Data may not be used as a component of or as a basis for any material offered for sale, license, subscription, or promotion.

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M2Catalyst, LLC also retains full ownership of this M2 Mobile Broadband Quality report, encompassing all intellectual property rights, data, content, graphs, and analysis. Unauthorized quoting, reproduction, distribution, or publication for commercial use is prohibited without M2Catalyst's prior written approval. Journalists wishing to cite information from our reports must provide clear source attribution and secure prior written consent from M2Catalyst. For further information or clarification, please contact us at info@m2catalyst.com.


Learn more about the methodology for this report.


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