Vodacom Group

Around Tanzania's October 29, 2025 general election, all five major mobile network operators - including Vodacom Tanzania - carried out a coordinated, nationwide shutdown of internet access and social media platforms that NetBlocks confirmed was 'not a technical glitch but a nationwide, coordinated action.' Keyword filtering blocked text messages containing opposition leader Tundu Lissu's name. On October 28, the Net Rights Coalition sent a public letter, copied to Vodacom's CEO among others, warning operators not to comply with an illegal shutdown order; Vodacom complied anyway. During the roughly six-day blackout (which coincided with a violent post-election crackdown), advocacy documentation alleges Vodacom Tanzania also disabled its customer call centers, preventing customers from reporting the outage. Vodacom Tanzania issued a November 4, 2025 notice attributing the disruption to 'reasons beyond the company's control' and later offered to reimburse customer data bundles, which digital-rights advocates called a 'tokenistic and cynical gesture.' A Tanzanian High Court petition was filed naming the government and all five MNOs, including Vodacom, as respondents. Estimated industry-wide revenue loss from the shutdown was about $7.4 million.