Canada's Sasktel International has won a three-year contract from the government of Tanzania to manage the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL).

The management take-over will be effective on July 1 this year, according to a press statement available on Monday.

According to the contract, Sasktel will be responsible for managing all TTCL's operations, maintenance and expansion in order to improve its financial, commercial and technical performance.

The statement said: "The decision to put TTCL under an independent management was reached by its shareholders -- the government and the Celtel International -- who agreed that this was the best strategy to make TTCL operate more efficiently in the prevailing free market economy."

TTCL has been Tanzania's chief landline telephone service provider and has witnessed stiff competition from mobile telephone service providers in the country.

While the number of Tanzanians using mobile phones has increased to 7.2 million by the end of last year, TTCL saw the number of its subscribers decrease in the country to the tune of hundreds of thousands.

Source: Xinhua