Smart Telecom has shut down its mobile operations in Tanzania after submitting a business closure request to the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA). The Citizen reports that the request for an immediate closure was submitted to the watchdog in March 2019, but the TCRA gave Smart a period of three months to enable customers to use up any outstanding credit.
The mobile market’s smallest player, Smart was a partnership between Industrial Promotion Services (IPS) Kenya (a division of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development) and Cyprus-based, Russian-owned Timeturns Holdings (49%). It launched its network in March 2014, utilising the existing nationwide technology-neutral mobile licence awarded in 2009 to CDMA operator Benson Informatics (BOL), and switched on a 4G LTE service in August 2015.