English language daily The Citizen reports that the move was confirmed by deputy minister for communications for sciences and technology January Makamba, who said the decision was part of a strategy to make the turbulent operator more stable and beneficial to Tanzanians.
The government owns a 65% stake in TTCL with the remaining 35% held by Airtel Tanzania.
“We have started to talk to our counterparts on our aim to buy back their shares so that we can completely own it,” Makamba told The Citizen.
He said the aim was to allow the government to have a more meaningful input in turning around the company and outlined the challenges it was facing with a lack of capital and capacity to embrace modern technology.
Makamba was convinced TTCL’s board would help facilitated the change in ownership.
TTCL, which has suffered debt problems in the past, offers CDMA mobile services as well as fixed broadband and telephony.
For more on the Tanzanian market read our country focus.
