SECTION VI: MOBILE PHONES USAGE AND MSE TRANSFORMATION IN DODOMA

SECTION VI: MOBILE PHONES USAGE AND MSE TRANSFORMATION IN DODOMA

Research Methodology

This section is focusing on how the micro and small enterprises in one of the strategic cities in Central Tanzania, i.e. Dodoma are making use of the mobile phones for undertaking their business operations. Some of the variables covered for this study are, the nature and dimensions of the MSE business functions undertaken using mobile phones like order placing, delivery of services and goods and payments. It also brings out how the mobile phones have transformed the functioning of the MSEs and have contributed for their efficiency. The barriers in using the mobile phones such as costs, limited applications and other infrastructural issues also have been brought out. About 75 micro and small enterprises in the Central Business district of Madukani/ One-way and surrounding business areas Uhindini, SabaSaba, Jamatini, Terminal Bus Stand and Makole and suburban areas like Kizota and Kikuyu were be covered for this study. Enterprises having less than 50 employees were covered based on the stratified random sampling. The owners, managers and employees making use of the mobile phones for the business purposes of these MSEs were surveyed using a questionnaire.

Profile of the enterprises surveyed

Out of the 75 micro and small enterprises surveyed for the study at Dodoma urban, 58 (81.7%) had less than five employees; nine (12%) had 5-10 employees and only four (5.33%) had more than 10 employees. Among the respondents, 16 (21.3%) were owners, 10 (13.3%) were managers and the remaining 47 (62.7%) were employees. Multiple purpose business enterprises (17), food and related enterprises (10), stationery shops (6), mobile phones, electronics related enterprises (8), timber related enterprises dealing with furniture and carpentry (5), clothes and dress materials (6), hardware and building materials enterprises (6) and cosmetics (5) were the major category of the business enterprises surveyed. Hair dressing saloons, plastics products suppliers, guest houses, lodges, mini-super markets, bars, medical store, decoration materials shops, utensils shops and automobile and car spare parts constituted the remaining business enterprises surveyed at Dodoma in March 2014.

ICTs used by MSEs

Ordinary mobile phones were highly used by these MSEs compared to any other ICTs. Fax machines, landlines, emails, internet and traditional ICTs like Post Box were used only to a limited extent. The smart phones usage is also not significant but relatively better than others. Mobile money is the second most important ICT used by these MSEs as displayed in the Table 4.

Table 4: Degree of usage of various ICTs by MSEs

Intensity ICTs	High	Moderate	Low	Not at all	Total
Fax machines	-	7 (9.3)	3 (4)	65 (86.7)	75 (100)
Ordinary mobiles	75 (100)	-	-	-	75 (100)
Smart phones	-	18 (24)	-	57 (76)
Mobile money	27 (36)	47 (62.7)	-	1 (1.3)	75 (100)
Emails	-	7 (9.3)	10 (13.3)	58 (77.3)	75 (100)
Internet	1 (1.3)	15 (20)	1 (1.3)	58 (77.3)
Post box	-	-	1 (1.3)	74 (98.7)	75 (100)
Others	-	1 (1.3)	3 (4)	71 (94.7)	75 (100)

Source: Field Survey (2014)
Most of the respondents have started to use the phones/mobile phones in the recent years; 36 (48%) started using them during the period 2006-2010 and 22 (29.3%) started using them during 2011-2013. Those who started using them during 2001-2005 constituted 13.3% and the remaining 6.7% had the experience of using them prior to 2001.
Table 5: Number of ordinary and smart mobile phones and SIM cards used by MEMEs

	Frequency
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	NIL
Ordinary mobile phones	1 (1.3%)	15 (20%)	17 (22.7%)	22 (29.3%)	11 (14.7%)	6 (8%)	1 (1.3%)	2 (2.7%)	0
SIM cards for mobile phones	2 (2.6%)	5 (6.7%)	18 (24%)	26 (34.7%)	10 (3.3%)	5 (6.7%)	3 (4.0%)	6 (8%)	0
Smart/touch phones	6 (8%)	8 (10.7%)	4 (5.3%)	0	0	0	0	0	57 (76%)

Source: Field Survey (2014)
It could be seen that owing multiple mobile phones and SIM cards from multiple service providers is widely prevalent among the MSEs surveyed for this study. More than 75% of those surveyed had three or mobile phones. Similarly more than 90% of them had three or more SIM cards. High off-net call tariff could be one of the major reasons for this phenomenon.

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