THE SKY IS THE LIMIT FOR ARUSHA ICT FIRM

 

Habari Node, a leading Internet provider in Arusha, is wasting no chance to consolidate its position in the market.

After offering ICT services to corporate bodies in and around the city since the 1990s, it will now turn its energies to schools.

"We are aiming to provide Internet services to secondary schools", said  Erik R. Rowberg, the board chairman.

He spoke on the firm's expanding activities during the official opening of the new premises in the city on Friday last week.

He said Habari Node is already implementing a programme on Internet services in the schools in collaboration with the education authorities.

The company has also offered ICT training to students and that about 300 of them have trained or taken practicals at its ICT labs.

Habari Node was the  first private firm to provide Email and Internet services in Arusha in 1995 at the time the technology was still new in the country.

Besides the standard Internet services, it also provided a range of innovative ICT-based business solutions to the Tanzanian market.

It was formed to take over the Internet service activities of Arusha Node Marie, a society which has been operational since 1994.

Mr. Rowberg said opening of  the new premises along Nyerere road in Arusha was part of the measures to rebrand the company.

"This is a more spacious place, ever green and which can bring all our staff under one roof", he pointed out.

According to him, the company spent at least Sh.120 million to massively rehabilitate an old building for the new premises.

Since 1995, the firm has invested a whopping Sh. 50 billion to purchase the equipment, Internet service provision and allied services.

However, the bulk of the data equipment will continue to be at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) where Arusha Node has been operating ever since.

Gracing the new premises, the Arusha Regional Commissioner John Mongela commended the company for its resilience.

"We need the companies like Habari Node which can do business, make profit, offer employment, pay tax and levies and support the community", he said.

He said the government will continue to extend the necessary support to  the private sector players to conduct their businesses successfully.

Habari Node, he pointed out, not only created employment to jobless  graduates "but also modern technology to our people".

Mr. Mongela added that the government was impressed by the role being played by the private sector in the region's economic growth.

According to the company's general manager Ms Kabaza Runyeta, Habari Node currently has about 80 employees, eight of them managers of various units.

The firm is a member of Tanzania Internet Services Provider (TISPA) and currently hosts the Arusha Internet Exchange Point (AIXP) on behalf of other Arusha ISP’s.