ASSESSMENT OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING PROJECTS PERFORMANCE

IN TELECOM COMPANIES

A Case of Selected Telecom Companies in Tanzania

By

Anna Peter

A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Engineering Management of the

University of Dar es Salaam

University of Dar es Salaam

2017

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 CERTIFICATION

I, the undersigned, certify that we have read and hereby recommend for acceptance by

University of Dar es Salaam, a dissertation entitled Assessment of the Factors Affecting

Projects Performance in Telecom Companies: a Case of Selected Telecom Companies in

Tanzania in partial fulfillment of the requirements for award of the Degree of Master in

Construction Management of University of Dar es Salaam

Dr. _________________________
(Supervisor)
Date:____________________

i
 DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT

I, Anna Peter, declare that this thesis is my original work and that it has not been

presented and will not be presented to any other University for a similar or any other

degree award.

Signature:______________________

This dissertation is a copyright material protected under the Berne Convention, the

Copyright Act 1999 and other international and national enactments, in that behalf, on

intellectual property. It may not be reproduced by any means in full or in part, except for

short extracts in fair dealings, for research or private study, critical scholarly review or

discourse with an acknowledgement, without the written permission of the University of

Dar es Salaam on behalf of the author.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, all praise and gratefulness is due to Almighty God who endowed me

with strength, health, patience, and knowledge to complete this work. Secondly, I would

like to express my profound gratitude and special thanks to my supervisor Prof.

__________________ of University of Dar es Salaam who in spite of being busy with his

other duties, he took time out to guide and support me academically throughout the study.

His critical remarks and comments were very constructive to my work, without which I

don’t know where I would have been. I owe him much.

Thirdly, I am thankful to all respondents particularly all directors and managers from the

visited institutions who were willing to respond to my questionnaires and interviews; they

facilitated much the data collection process. Fourthly, I would also like to express my

sincere gratitude and appreciation to all my fellow class members whom we used to study

and discuss together. I thank them for their encouragement, moral and academic support;

the sleepless nights we had worked together during studies and all the funnies we had in

the class will always be honored and remembered.

Lastly, it is not possible to mention everyone who helped individually; those who in one

way or another contributed to the successful completion of this work, their moral and

material support are highly appreciated. Thank you all.

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 DEDICATION

This research report is dedicated to my beloved husband ____________ and my parents,

Mr & Mrs. ______________, I thank you all very much for your devotion, love, patience

and support.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CERTIFICATION .............................................................................................................. i

DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT ..............................................................................ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................................iii

DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................... v

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ ix

LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... x

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... xi

CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................... xi

INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY ................................................................................ 1

1.1 Background of the Study........................................................................................ 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................... 4

1.3 Objectives ............................................................................................................... 5

1.3.1 Main Objectives ..................................................................................................... 5

1.3.2 Specific Objectives................................................................................................. 5

1.4 Research Questions .............................................................................................. 6

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1.5 Significance of the Problem ................................................................................... 6

1.6 Scope of the Study ................................................................................................. 7

CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................... 8

LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................... 8

2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 8

2.2 The Concept of Project........................................................................................... 8

2.3 Challenges in the Management of Telecom Projects ........................................... 8

2.4 Telecom Project Status ........................................................................................... 9

2.5 Telecom projects Status Worldwide .................................................................. 10

2.6 Telecom Projects Status Africa and Tanzania 1990-2015 ............................. 10

2.7 Project Success Measurement Criteria (Indicators) ......................................... 11

2.8 Factors Affecting Projects Performance .......................................................... 14

2.9 A Case Study –Ran Projects ................................................................................ 17

2.10 Literature Gaps ..................................................................................................... 18

CHAPTER THREE.......................................................................................................... 20

STUDY METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 20

3.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 20

3.2 Research Type ...................................................................................................... 20

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3.3 Research Design ................................................................................................. 20

3.4 Sample and Sampling Techniques ....................................................................... 21

3.5 Area of Study ....................................................................................................... 22

3.6 Study Population ................................................................................................ 22

3.7 Data Collection..................................................................................................... 25

3.7.1 Questionnaires ...................................................................................................... 25

3.7.2 Interviews ............................................................................................................. 25

3.8 Secondary Data .................................................................................................... 26

3.9 Data Analysis and Presentation .......................................................................... 26

3.10 Quantitative Data Analysis .................................................................................. 26

3.11 Qualitative Data Analysis .................................................................................. 27

3.12 Validity and Reliability ........................................................................................ 27

3.13 Ethical Issues and Considerations ........................................................................ 28

CHAPTER FOUR ............................................................................................................ 29

DATA ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION ..................................... 29

4.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 29

4.2 Demography of Respondent ................................................................................. 29

4.3 Study Results........................................................................................................ 31

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4.3.1 Performance level of telecommunication Projects ............................................... 32

4.3.2 Factors affecting success of Telecommunication Projects .................................. 42

4.3.3 Strategies for Successful Implementation of Telecommunication Projects ......... 59

CHAPTER FIVE .............................................................................................................. 65

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...................................... 65

5.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................... 65

5.2 Summary .............................................................................................................. 65

5.2.1 Performance level of telecommunication Projects ............................................... 65

5.2.2 Factors affecting success of Telecommunication Projects .................................. 66

5.2.3 Strategies for successful implementation of telecom projects ............................. 66

5.3 Recommendation.................................................................................................. 67

5.4 Areas for further Research ................................................................................... 68

REFFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 69

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 LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: Telecom projects status worldwide 1990-2015……………………………..10

Table 2.2: Project status telecom companies Tanzania…………...…………………….11

Table 3.1: Sample of participants in Dar es Salaam stations only………………...……24

Table 4.1: Demographic Profile of the Respondents…………………………..………..30

Table 4.2: Performance level of Telecommunication Projects……………………...….33

Table 4.3: Cost Performance Index of Selected Telecom Projects……………………..41

Table 4.4: Factors affecting success of Telecommunication Projects-Descriptive……..43

Table 4.5: Factors affecting success of Telecommunication Projects-T test……….…..46

Table 4.6: Strategies for Successful implementation of Telecommunication Projects…61

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1: Projects investment in Africa and Tanzania respectively…………..………11

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 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AMA - American Association

CVBS - Convergent Billing System

EMV - Expected Money Value

GSMA - Global System Mobile Application

HR - Human Resource

ITU - International Telecommunication Union

MOST - Ministry of Science and Technology

MS - Mobile Station

CIs - Confidence Intervals

CN - Core Network

PMI - Project Management Institute

RAN - Radio Access Network

SPSS - Statistical Package for Social Science

STD - Standard Deviation

TCs - Telecommunication Companies

TTCL- Tanzania Telecommunication Company Limited

TCRA -Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority

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UE - User Equipment

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 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDY

1.1 Background of the Study

Telecommunication is the exchange of information over significant distances by

electronic means. The simplest form of telecommunications takes place between two

stations. However, it is common for multiple transmitting and receiving stations to

exchange data among them. Such an arrangement is called a telecommunications network.

The Internet is the largest example. Telecommunication sector comprises of six major

segments; Mobile Sector, Fixed Line Sector, Wireless Sector, Payphone Services, Internet

Services, Voice over IP.

In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons,

smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio

messages such as coded drumbeats, lung-blown horns, and loud whistles. In modern times,

telecommunications involves the use of electrical devices such as the telegraph, telephone,

radio, and microwave communications. Communication channels make use of fiber optics

and their associated electronics, orbiting satellites and the Internet. Modern

telecommunications industry players produce communication equipment and deliver a set

of voice, data, and broadband services using wire line or wired infrastructure of cables,

networks, servers, computers, and satellites

Telecom is the fifth largest and fastest growing industry in the world. It play an important

role in the world economy, the worldwide telecommunication industry's revenue was

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estimated to be $5 trillion in 2015 as per ITU report .At the end of 2014, half of the world’s

population had at least one mobile subscription, totaling over 3.6 billion unique mobile

subscribers. Developed markets are growing more slowly as penetration rates approach

levels close to saturation. For example, in Europe and North America, unique subscriber

growth was below 1% in 2014. At the other end Africa is still the world’s most under-

penetrated region with subscriber growth at nearly 12 % industry till 2015 had contributed

to 4% of world economy as compared to 2014 where it was 3.8% this clearly shows the

remarkable growth of sector (GSMA, 2015).

High advancement of technology and high demands for telecommunication services in

the market has pushed the desire for Telecom companies to expand their networks so has

to acquire wider coverage and large share in the market , the Telecom market share in

Africa has increased by 5.5% by the end of 2014 (Dellote, 2014)

Tanzania forms the second largest telecoms market in East Africa, behind Kenya and

currently has a mobile penetration level of 67 per cent which is slightly below the Sub

Saharan region’s average of 71.1 per cent, according to the World Bank. The two leading

mobile operators in the country are Vodacom and Tigo which accounts for 69.3 per cent

of total telecom service revenue in 2015(Pyramid reseach, 2015). The sector contribution

to Tanzania economy was 3.9 percent in 2015 as reported by Ministry of science and

Technology (MOST, 2015)

The driver of this phenomenal growth has been the mobile sector, which since the entry

of the first mobile operator in 1994 has transformed the communications landscape. The

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government too has played its part with competition picking up due to the liberalization

of the market and the introduction of a progressive licensing framework. Operators

continues to invest in the expansion of their mobile networks in rural areas and ensure

adequate quality of service to increase and maintain their subscriber market share

The report form World bank (2015) shows the highlights form the project database that

until the end of 2014 the telecom sector was the leading sector for projects

implementations in Tanzania which has invested about 3898milionsUS dollars in projects

,Vodacom ltd being the leading company invested about 1257 million US dollars.

According to TCRA1 (TCRA, 2014) quarterly telecommunications statistics report, the

mobile phone subscribers in Tanzania have reached 31,862,656 which is approximately

10 times as much as what has seen from TCRA (TCRA, 2005) quarterly

telecommunications statistics report

This supports the World Bank report that more projects are being implemented to expand

their networks so as to meet the growing demands of its customers. However the network

project encounters several challenges due different factors that normally if not taken

into considerations hinders the projects performance.

The study in Tanzania has shown that the implementation of Telecom projects suffers in

the investment costs out of 25 projects implemented in telecom sector at least 4 are

cancelled due different factors this accounts for 1% of total investment costs

1
TCRA= Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority
3
(Worldbank,2015).More studies has been conducted also to other telecom companies in

Africa like the study in Nigeria telecom which also has confirmed failure of many

projects being in cost and schedule overruns, Moorage and Radford (2006) reported that

the cost of projects in Nigeria escalated by 14% (the minimum average percentage) and

the period of projects in Nigeria escalated by 188% (the minimum average percentage).

So it was the aim of the study to discuss the factors critical to the successful

implementation of projects in Telecom companies in Tanzania.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Underperformance of Projects is the problem to most of the Telecom companies in

Tanzania as it is to other organizations where project works are frequently adopted. The

industry is forced to involve project based works frequently due to technological changes,

dynamic market conditions, changes in environmental regulations, and increased

customer involvement (Bredillet, 2005). However Projects implemented do not fulfill

expectations due to some sorts of external influence, unexpected events, ever growing

requirements, changing constraints and fluctuating resource flows. Kamiget

al.,(1997)reported the findings from various studies, which were conducted in different

developing countries (Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Indonesia) had confirmed that

all of the projects implemented in these countries suffered from significant construction

cost and time overruns. Tanzania Telecom companies have not escaped the problem yet

many projects experience failures eg is the failure of CVBS, MNP and RAN projects in

TTCL company (TTCL,2014) .Furthermore (world bank,2014) has reported the findings

4
for Telecom project performance across Africa countries including Tanzania. The report

for Tanzania shows that about 28.9% of projects implemented during that period

underperformed in terms of cost and schedule .This clearly shows that the more projects

are implemented the more the failures if steps are not taken in order to manage them

effectively and efficiently, (Suhaiza,2007).Despite the findings from various literatures

about the success factors for projects performance few literatures exists on factors

affecting the performance of projects in telecom industry Tanzania with specific

network projects .Since network projects are being widely implemented in the Telecom

industry Tanzania , its prominence, and the persisting challenges facing this industry in

managing these projects today are the driving force for carrying out research on

identifying the success factors crucial to the performance of network projects in

Telecom industry.

1.3 Objectives

1.3.1 Main Objectives

The broad objective of this study is to assess the factors affecting projects

performance in Telecommunication companies

1.3.2 Specific Objectives

This study is guided by the following specific research objectives

i. To examine the performance level of telecom projects

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 ii. To establish factors affecting success of telecom projects among telecom

companies

iii. Developing strategies to ensure successful implementation of projects by telecom

companies

1.4 Research Questions

i. What is the performance level of telecom projects?

ii. What are the factors affecting projects success among telecom companies?

iii. What are the strategies to ensure successful implementation of projects by

Telecom Companies?

1.5 Significance of the Problem

This study is significant for practical pursuits. Projects are widely implemented and

increasing due to the demands for network expansions among the TCs. This makes it

important to conduct a study like this in order to contribute knowledge to Telecom

stakeholders who directly or indirectly involve project based works in their organizations.

The significance of this study is embedded in the understanding of the factors affecting

project performance. The findings of the study provides knowledge on the efficiency and

effectiveness of the adoption better strategies to ensure projects success outcomes among

TCs Not to mention the fact that the findings adds useful information to the existing body

of knowledge on Project management. Also, the findings and suggestions contained herein

are of practical importance to stakeholders such as Project fund donors and academic

6
institutions. Lastly, this study may be used as a reference point to scholars who are

interested in Projects management studies.

1.6 Scope of the Study

The study was conducted in telecom companies, three companies involved namely

AIRTEL,VODACOM, and TTCL in their headquarters in Dar es salaam region. The

choice for the above companies is due to its long existence in the telecom industry

Tanzania, they have experienced enough in managing their network projects and so they

are good places enough to acquire the desired research data, the study only focused on

determining the success factors for implementations of projects, specifically network

projects and focused only on projects implemented from 2011 to 2015 in the respective

companies.

KEY WORDS

 Telecommunication

 Project Performance

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter has been divided into different sections covering all the important aspects of

the research subjects. Sections involved are:

2.2 The Concept of Project

The term project has been discussed through various literatures; several authors and

institutions have defined it. (PMI, 2008) defines a project as a temporary endeavor

undertaken to create a product, service, or result that is unique. Projects can be

characterized by elements such as objectivity as it is definable with results, output or

product, complexity with normally interrelated activities and large number of different

tasks, uncertainty as it has element of risks, temporary with its well defined beginning and

end and lastly operate in a life cycle as emphasis and resource needs change during the

life of the project (Asihuza, 2007).

2.3 Challenges in the Management of Telecom Projects

Telecommunication projects are highly exposed to risks due to its intensive capital

investments So many challenges are facing this sector ,to enhance project implementation

success, in Telecommunication sector ,management and sponsors must as much as

possible adopt the best project management approaches in managing their projects

especially in developing countries.

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(Desmon ,2016 ) in his article about project management for telecom explained some of

the challenges encountered during the implementation of telecom projects which are

Scope not clearly defined when commitment is made to customer, not enough resources

(people, cash, lab space, spare circuits Changes to scope keep interfering (regulatory,

customer ,demands, related project off track) Conflicts (operations versus. engineers;

sales versus. technical support; line versus staffs),Committing to unrealistic dates ,Clear

roles and responsibilities, and Not clear with who is in charge.

Project management consultant firm in America AMA have identified major failure

factors for projects which includes lack of project management skills, scope creep, poorly

defined objectives, high staff turnover, insufficient resources, poor follow up, insufficient

authority given to the project managers and no common project management methods

adopted in the project team.This clearly shows that if projects are applied and steps are

not taken in order to manage them effectively and efficiently, the chance of failure will

be high and more uncontrollable

2.4 Telecom Project Status

This section review the status of telecom projects both worldwide, Africa and specific

Tanzania which is the area of the study

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 2.5 Telecom projects Status Worldwide

Table 2.1: Telecom projects status worldwide 1990-2015

REGION No TOTAL COMPLETED CANCELLED EQUIVALENT

TELCOM INVESTMNENT in $ PROJECTS PROJECTS LOSS IN $
PROJECTS
1 EAST ASIA 97 120859 83 14 10,472
ANDPACIFIC
2 EUROPE 304 200064 293 11 3,015
ANDCENTRAL
ASIA
3 LATINAMERICA 160 401348 153 7 10968
AND THE
CARRIBEAN
4 MIDDLE EAST 53 69804 50 3 677
AND
NORTHAFRICA
5 SOUTH ASIA 85 132897 77 8 4092

6 SUB-SAHARA 238 114303 208 30 4372

AFRICA
Source: World Bank (2015)

2.6 Telecom Projects Status Africa and Tanzania 1990-2015

According to World Bank report of 2015 telecommunication sector leads in projects

investments both in Africa and Tanzania which invested a total of 3898 and 114303 mil

dollars representing 68% and 88% investment share for Africa and Tanzania respectively

.The total investments in the infrastructure sectors (Airports, Electricity, Natural Gas,

Railroads, Seaports, Telecom, Water and sewerage)was 4728mil and 162 685 mil dollars

in Tanzania and Africa respectively . Despite its high investment in projects it still suffers

from failures due different factors including financial factors the reports shows only 11

10
 and 208 projects were successful completed for Tanzania and Africa respectively. The

project status both for Africa and Tanzania is illustrated by the figures below:

Figure 2.1: Projects investment in Africa and Tanzania respectively

Source: World Bank (2015)

Table 2.2: Project status telecom companies Tanzania

Source: World Bank (2015)

COMPANY NO OF TOTAL COMPLETED PROJECT EQUIVALENT

PROJECTS INVESTMENT PROJECTS FAILED LOSS IN( MIL
IN MIL $ $)

1 VODACOM 16 1257 12 4 126

2 AIRTEL 22 1048 18 4 105

3 TIGO 11 746 9 2 8

4 ZANTEL 8 624 5 3 6.2

5 TTCL 10 190 4 6 19
2.7 Project Success Measurement Criteria (Indicators)

Defining what project success is, how do we define project success and design

performance measures that allow us to recognize the degree of success, has been a great

deal written over the year’s .However none has given the final definition of project success

11
since it varies depending on the project criteria. In General Project success involves two

main components which are Project success criteria and project success factors ,for the

project to be implemented successfully the criteria and factors for project success should

be Cleary defined and regularly reviewed (wateridge,1995)

The measurement criteria for project success differ from one project to the other. In early

times the evaluation of projects success was mainly based on the three criteria’s known as

“the iron triangle” which are time ,cost and quality, any project that was implemented

outside the timeframe, out the budget and outcome does not meet the pre-determined

performance criteria was considered to be failure. Later it was found inadequate to

consider only three criteria’s and criticized by several authors like (pinto and slevin, 1998,

Atkinson, 1999, barcca, 1999) new other criteria were established.

Kerzner (1998) identified 5 criteria that can be used to measure project success. The

criteria are completed in time, within budget, completed at the desired level of quality,

accepted by the customer and resulted in customers allowing the contractor to use them

as a reference (Kerzner, 1998) Further study reveals extended the measurement of project

success to include client perception in contrast to the early literature where emphasis

was given to cost quality and time during the project management.

Shenhar (1997) classified project success criteria into two dimensions the first one is the

efficiency which is not limited by the dimension of time, cost and quality but can be

extended to number of engineering changes prior final design release, production

efficiency and yield, efficiency of purchase order and safety measures. The second

12
dimension is the impact on the customer or end user followed by the third dimension

which is impact on the organization. Lastly the success of the project need to be measured

by the way it helps the organization to move and prepare for the future.

Similary (Masoud, 2014) in his study on project success identified 5 critical success which

were meeting schedule, within budget, customer satisfaction , commercial success,

reaching scope and preparing for the future . Preparing for the future scored 5.657

indicated that it was the most important indicator of the project success. It was revealed

that studying the projects carefully and narrating the project lessons learned can play a

very significant role on project success. The commercial success scored 5.342 which also

show the second level of importance as project success indicators based on the responds

received. The respondents also agreed somewhat on staying within the budget with a mean

of 5.285 to be the 3rd important indicator of the project success. Meeting schedule and

benefit to a customer scored 4th and 5th important items in as the project success

indicators. From the study Conducted by (Shenharn, 1997, Masoud, 2014) reveals that

these 5 items are the most important factors related to project success

For each of the above approaches on project performance measurement criteria by

scholars, it is Important to note that projects are operated under different environment,

contexts and have different objectives; hence require different indicators for performance

assessment. In this study, however, indicators of performance for network projects refers

to meeting budget ,meeting schedule ,scope control, archiving commercial success and

preparing for the future.

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2.8 Factors Affecting Projects Performance

The area of research is not a new concept, several studies has been conducted, and also

several authors have published concerning the factors affecting performance of the

projects .Although these factors may not be similar to all projects and organizations

(Belassi, W. and Tukel, O.I., 1996).

In the article published by Pinto(1988)showed Cleary 10 factors which were critical to

the project performance and categorized these factors into main two categories first one

included top management support, project plan or schedule, project mission these three

were grouped as strategic the second group which consisted of seven factors Client

Consultation, Personnel, Technical Tasks, Client Acceptance, Monitoring and Feedback,

Communication and Troubleshooting were classified as tactical he proceeded by

specializing the factors into different stages of project cycle the strategic factors occurred

during the early planning phase of project and the tactical factors occurs in the later

stages of project implementations.

In the study conducted by Belassi and Tukel (1996)grouped success factors into groups

which were organization factors, environmental factors and factors related to project

management and team .The study was conducted in respect to the criteria for success

(cost, time, quality and client satisfaction, the organizational structure and project size),

In their study availability of resources as ranked as the top, followed by top management

support, the third most important factor was preliminary estimates, followed by project

manager performance and client consultation the factors related to the organization which

14
were availability of resources and top management support were the dominant factors .

The study was conducted in manufacturing industry and not Telecom industry as this

study seeks to address.

The study on the factors Affecting the Success of a Construction Projects(Albert et

all,2004) revealed Five major groups of independent variables, namely project-related

factors, project procedures, project management actions, human-related factors, and

external environment, these were identified as crucial to project success. however there

were no information about the relationship which exists between them hence the study

suggested further study on the key performance indicators (KPIs) and how it relates to

the CSFs identified relation will provide useful piece of information to implement a

project successfully.

In the research study conducted by (Tsun, 2008) on the critical success factors of Agile

software development projects using quantitative approach, results revealed that for each

of the four project success categories Quality, Scope, Time, and Cost only 3 out of 12,

factors were identified as critical success factors for Agile software development project

the factors were (a) Delivery Strategy, (b) Agile Software Engineering Techniques, and

(c) Team Capability. Again the study did not reveal the relationship between the success

factors and the mentioned group of success criteria’s.

(Desmon,2006) discovered few factors for successful project implementation in telecom

which are(i)Good people (ii) Clear objectives (iii)Team work (iv) Clearly defined

deliverables (v) Good planning (vi) Strong change control. However these were more

15
common and generalized for all telecom projects not for specific projects as this study

seeks to address.

The study conducted by Oko et al (2010) which involved the investigation of potential

causes to cost overruns in 53 Telecommunication projects in Nigeria The results

indicated that construction related factors were top the list of categories that cause

cost overruns in telecommunication projects. Author factors were identified as major

causes of cost overruns and are ranked in their order of importance: the lack of contractor

experience on the telecommunication projects, the high cost of imported materials and the

fluctuation in the prices of materials that are necessary for the telecommunication projects.

Again this study was conducted for general Telecom projects not specific types of projects

as this study seeks to address.

In the study conducted by (Hamoud,2014) on the influence of EMV on project success

identified Project management approach to be the main factor in promoting telecom

project success .In his study he evaluated a total of 12 telecom projects across AFRICA

and found 0.833% of EMV components which included Cleary definition of project scope

accelerates the project success .However in his study the factors were evaluated as a

component of EMV not independently and it was limited to projects implemented by

Nokia contractors only contrary to this study where the study seeks to evaluate the

extent to which each one affect the project performance and will specifically base on

network projects implemented by HUAWEI contractors

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2.9 A Case Study –Ran Projects

A radio access network (RAN) is part of a mobile telecommunication system. It forms

logical component of every carrier network, whose primary responsibility is to mediate

access to the provisioned radio channel and shuttle the data packets to and from the user’s

device. In fact, this is the component controlled and mediated by the Radio Resource

Controller It implements a radio access technology. Conceptually, it resides between a

devices such as a mobile phone, a computer, or any remotely controlled machine and

provides connection with its core network (CN). Depending on the standard, mobile

phones and other wireless connected devices are varyingly known as user equipment

(UE), terminal equipment, mobile station (MS), etc. As the demand for network expansion

in Telecommunication increases more RAN Projects are being implemented hence the

need to assess the performance factors is of more emphasize.

From the survey conducted RAN project s are characterized by the following performance

criteria’s (i) Better coverage (ii) Low cost (ii) High Quality ( vi) High capacity (v) Time

saving, (vi) Preparing for future expansions. Hence for RAN project to be successful all

of the above mentioned performance criteria’s should be mate .Another important part in

understanding the performance of RAN projects are factors influencing these

performance ,from the literature review and survey conducted in Telecom companies and

respective Huawei vendors below factor were the most failure factors in RAN project s

implementations (i) Lack of proper planning (ii) Lack of coordination between vendors

and clients (iv) Lack of Training (V) Lack of top management supports (vi) Technology

17
complexity (vi) Resource availability (vii) Scope not defined Cleary Hence from the

literature review the researcher seek to assess the success factors for RAN projects

performance. However the criteria’s that were measured:- cost, time , scope of the

projects and preparing for the future .These were measure against the factors derived from

Pinto model of project success factors after verifying them from the survey that they fit

for this study .

2.10 Literature Gaps

In the reviewed literatures, the study on the success factors for project performance is

observed to be more conducted in Construction industries, IT (software projects)

18
industries and Manufacturing sectors but rarely on Telecommunication sectors.

Furthermore the factors identified were not explained how they related to the specified

measurement criteria’s. In addition to the above literatures gaps more studies were

conducted in developed countries with few studies in least developing countries like

Nigeria .There is scarcity in the literatures concerning success factors for project

performance in Telecommunication sectors for developing countries specifically

Tanzania

19
 CHAPTER THREE

STUDY METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

This chapter outlines research’s design and methodology to be adopted. It includes the

type of research design, data collection methods, area of study, sampling technique and

sample sizes used and lastly how the data was analyzed.

3.2 Research Type

This research is correlation as it involves detecting the existence of a relationship between

the success factors and project performance variables and quantitative as it verify the

relationship between the variables. This approach is mainly applicable in scientific

studies, which focus on measurements (Donald and Trompo, 2006).

3.3 Research Design

According to Kothari (2003) research design is an arrangement of conditions for collection

of and analysis of data in a manner that aim to combine relevance with the research

purpose. It is the conceptual structure with which research is conducted. It constitutes the

blue print for the collection, measurement and analysis of data.

This research was concern issues about the factors affecting project success among

telecom companies, with the specific objectives of finding the extent of failure of

telecom projects, the success factors required and the strategies needed to ensure

successful implementation of these projects by the telecom operators. All these helped

20
to achieve desired main objective and the information was collected using questionnaires

and check lists distributed to the TCs and Huawei vendors’ employees, one to one

interviews with project managers of the Huawei and TCs, interview with Network

Engineering and operation team of TCs. A case study of RAN projects in both companies

was employed using both qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the factors

crucial to the success of projects using dependent and independent variables whereby

each item of information in the survey represents one variable, a measure by which variant

in response could be established. The objective of the case study design was to determine

respondent’s opinion about the success factors for project performance in telecom

industry. (Saunders et al., 2003) confirms that case study design is the best method used

to gain a wider knowledge of the context of the research and suitable for achieving the

research objectives.

3.4 Sample and Sampling Techniques

Webster (1995) defines sampling as set of respondents selected from a large population

for the purpose of a survey. This study aims to use a sample size of about 30 using

purposive sampling as the targeted sample need to be exposed to project management

.Further more random sampling technique was used to select the respondents for the

interviews. Properties of sample data:-

21
 Age Employee in the range of 18-55 years

Location Dar es salaam, Tanzania

Gender Sample space must contain both M and F

Occupation Involved in telecom projects

Years of experience Must have 2 years’ experience and above

3.5 Area

of Study

A researcher needs to select a specific area for the study because only specific locations

are ideal and suitable to test particular theories Develeux and Hoddlinot (1992). This

research was conducted in Telecom companies Headquarters (HQ) in Dares Salaam, this

is due to the readily availability of Telecom firms in Dare salaam and due to the element

of time constraints

3.6 Study Population

The target population for this study was management and staff of Telecom companies,

and Telecom vendors. Study made by Alan Barrett (2008) suggests that, it is so difficult

to study the entire Population due to some limitation for example time, fund and

administration data collection and analysis. In this study stratified sampling was applied

in order to obtain representative sample. Under stratified sampling the population is

divided into several sub-populations that are individually more homogeneous than total

22
population. The different sub-populations are called strata. Then we select items from each

stratum to constitute a sample (Kothari, 2004).

Strata were formed on the basis of common characteristics of the items to be put in each

stratum; this means that various strata were formed in such a way as to insure elements

being most homogeneous within each stratum and most heterogeneous between different

strata. In this case stratum items were staffs of each company and strata items were

companies involved in this research: Tanzania Telecom Company Ltd, Vodacom

Tanzania ltd, Tigo (T) Ltd, Airtel Tanzania ltd and Huawei ltd

Simple random sampling was used to select Item from each stratum. Proportional

allocation was applied, whereby the sizes of the samples from different strata were kept

proportional to the size of the strata. That is if Pi represents the proportional of population

included in stratum i and n represents the total sample size, the number of element selected

from stratum i is n.Pi.

For the case of this research, I selected sample size n = 50 from the population of staffs

with size N = 500, which was divided into four strata with size N1 =100; N2 = 90; N3=80

and N4 = 70 and N5=60 covered Vodacom, Airtel, Tigo, Huawei and TTCL respectively.

In order to get sample size from each strata the following calculation was used:

Formula: nx=nPx (where x=1,2,3,4,5)

Where Px=Nx/N

i) For strata with N1 = 100; then P1 = 100/500

23
Hence n1 = n.P1; 50 x (100/500) = 9

ii) For strata with N2 = 80; then P2 = 80/500

Hence n2 = n.P2; 50 x (80/500) = 8

iii) For strata with N3 = 70; then P3 = 700/500

Hence n3 = n.P3; 50 x (70/500) = 7

iv) For strata with N4 = 60; then P4 = 60/500

n4=nP4 ; 50x70/500=7

v) .For strata with N5 =60; then P5= 60/500

Hence n4 = n.P4; 50 x (60/500) = 6

Table 3.1 summarizes the distribution of questionnaires relative to the samples of the

study’s population.

Table 3.1: Sample of participants in Dar es Salaam stations only

Company Name Staffs

Vodacom T LTD Network Engineers & project managers 10
Airtel Tanzania network Engineers & project managers 9
TTCL network Engineers & project managers 7
TIGO T LTD Network Engineers and project managers 8
Huawei Co.LTD Network Engineers project managers 6

24
3.7 Data Collection

Both primary data and secondary data collection methods were employed in the study.

Primary data including both qualitative and quantitative data was derived from

questionnaires, check list questions for observation and personal interviews but mostly

using questionnaires.

3.7.1 Questionnaires

As stated by (Sekaran, 2003: p. 249) “questionnaire is a popular method of collecting data

because researchers can gather information fairly easily and the questionnaire responses

are easily coded. Questionnaire was used to collect Quantitative data and it was divided

into 5 sections. The first section is aim to collect personal details and organization

information, followed by second section which aims to assess in the respondents’

experience in project management. The third section evaluated the extent of failures of

Telecom projects followed by the most important section which aims to find out what

the factors that influence the success in project performance, which is adopted from

Pinto’s Project management Profile (PIP). And lastly to find out the strategies used to

ensure successful implementation of telecom projects.

3.7.2 Interviews

Interview can be structured or unstructured. Due to the nature of this study, the researcher

used both structured and unstructured interviews for data collection. This Kind of

interviews contain questions which sought to investigate the respondents’ perceptions on

the factors affecting projects performance for instance, their perceptions on Human capital

25
involvement during the whole period of project implementation, vendors reactions when

projects underperform and the extent of project failures in their respect companies

.Questions were in English since the respondents are expected to be fluent in that language

although there was a room for using either English or Swahili during discussion between

the researcher and respondents. The researcher conduct interviews with PMs and heads

of Network departments face to face interviews were conducted in the offices of the

Respondents and recorded by a tape recorder and by way of notes taking given the consent

of the respondents.

3.8 Secondary Data

Secondary data was sourced from various documents, those which have been written by

other persons and processed, but can further be used for other researches. Also, project

reports which provide information concerning projects performance and challenges in the

Telecom industry.

3.9 Data Analysis and Presentation

Data analysis refers to the examining what has been collected and making deductions and

inferences from it (Kombo and Tromp, 2006). The method used for data analysis depends

on whether the study is qualitative or quantitative. In this study the researcher adopted

both quantitative and qualitative methods in collecting and analyzing data.

3.10 Quantitative Data Analysis

The Statistical Packages and Software for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 was used to

derive descriptive statistics, frequencies, percentages and conducting t-test to determine

26
significance level of variables. Quantitative data was presented in tables and analyzed

quantitatively. Quantitative data including social demographic information and data for

objective one and two, extent to which projects performance affected was analyzed using

SPSS version 21.

3.11 Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative data was also analyzed using Dedoose software which is most effective tool

for qualitative data analysis. This involved coding of data into variables and descriptors

(fields). Responses were presented into percentages and responses quotes. After

successful completion of data entry, the researcher presented both qualitative and

quantitative data under themes and sub-themes reflecting the objectives of the study and

data gathered from the field

3.12 Validity and Reliability

Kitchen and Tate (2000) argue that validity and reliability are two factors which make a

final touch and provide green light for piloting research instruments.

Validity refers to the degree to which any inferences a researcher makes, based on the data

he or she collects using a particular instrument, is supported by evidence (Frankael and

Wallen, 2000).On the other hand reliability is concerned with the extent to which data

collection process yields consistent results. To ensure validity and reliability, a

questionnaire was reviewed by lecturers and fellow Masters Students at the College of

Engineering and Technology University of Dar es salaam afterwards, the researcher

solicited comments for improving on research questions and data collections tools. In

27
addition, a pilot study was conducted involving 10 network engineers form 3 TCs prior to

the field. Lessons from the pilot study helped the researcher to well design data collection

tools and choose the best approach and data collection method.

3.13 Ethical Issues and Considerations

Ethical issues are crucial in research since they guide the researcher on what is permissible

and what is not and thus are Mandatory for the researcher to observe. Morrison (1993)

stipulates that ethical principles in the conduct of research include acquiring research

clearance and the informed consent of the participants as well as maintaining

confidentiality. Hence this study adhered to all ethical issues before interviews and filling

in of the questionnaires the researcher fully explained the objectives of the study to all the

respondents. In addition to that, their consent was sought and their right to confidentiality

was assured. Furthermore, the researcher fully observed the right to privacy,

confidentiality and anonymity of the respondents. In addition research clearance was

obtained from the University of Dar es Salaam

28
 CHAPTER FOUR

DATA ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Introduction

This chapter aimed at presenting and discussing data obtained from different sources that

comprise primary and secondary data collection sources. The study based on assessment

of the factors affecting performance of telecommunication projects as the main objective

alongside with specific objectives which were to examine the extent performance level

of telecom projects, to assess performance level projects among telecom companies and

to establish strategies to ensure successful implementation of project by telecom

companies.

4.2 Demography of Respondent

The demographic profile of the respondent was explained in terms of gender of

respondents, their education qualification, working position and work experience as

shown in table 4.1, where by total of 42 individuals from five different telecom companies

were selected.

The results (table 4.1) shown number of male respondents was 36 (85.7%) which is higher

than number of female respondent which was 6 (14.3%). It can be assumed that

telecommunication projects are more likely to be run/operated my male compare to

female. However, since the study collected information from both male and female it can

be said that the study had views of both male and female and there was no selection bias.

29
Table 4.1: Demographic Profile of the Respondents

Variables Measurements Frequencies Percentages

Gender of respondents Male 36 85.7
female 6 14.3
Total 42 100
Education Qualification of Diploma 2 4.8
respondents
Degree 34 81.0
Masters 6 14.3
Total 42 100
Working Position of Project Manager 2 5.6
Respondents
Network Engineer 34 94.4
Total 36 100
Work experience 1-5 30 71.4
6-10 6 14.3
11-15 2 4.8
16-20 2 4.8
Above 21 years 2 4.8
Total 42 100
Source: Field data (2016)

The table continued to show that a total of 34(81%) respondents were holding Bachelor

degree, followed by 6 (14.3%) respondents who where holding masters degree and 2

(4.8%) respondent who had Diploma level of education. This shows that information in

this study was from intellectual people and therefore they can be reliable. Respondents

were working as project managers presented 5.6% of all respondents while those who

were working as network engineers presented 94.4% of all respondents. Hence the study

collected information from key informant in Telecommunication project. The results

30
continued to show that 30 (71.4%) respondents had worked in telecommunication projects

for the period of 1-5 years, while 6 (14.3%) respondents had working experience of 6-10

years, 6 (14.4%) respondents had working experience of more than 11 years in

telecommunication project.

4.3 Study Results

This part explains and provides answers for the specific research questions. Moreover, the

part indicates analysis methods used in each of the study objective. During analysis stage

researcher used mean scores, standard deviation and p-values to explain the results of

specific objectives of the study. It must be noted that the mean is the average value of

response for each item on the Likert scale. This is simply the sum of the values divided

by the number of values. The implication is that the item with the highest mean is the one

which most respondents chose or rated highly and vice versa. The means disclosure value

has been calculated by applying the following formula:

∑ 𝐹𝑋
𝑋̅ =
𝑁

Where ∑ 𝐹𝑋 =Sum of different observation

N = Number of observation

Standard deviation is however a measure of variation. This uses all the observations, and

is defined in terms of the deviation (xi-μ) of the observations from the mean. The variation

is small if the observations are bunched closely about their mean, and large if they are

31
scattered over considerable distances. The following formula is used to get the values of

standard deviation of the continuous series:

(∑ 𝑋)2
𝑆. 𝐷 = ± √(∑ 𝑋 2 − )
𝑁

Where X = Individual observation

N = Number of observations

4.3.1 Performance level of telecommunication Projects

The first objective of the study was to examine performance level of telecom projects.

Accordingly, three variables of the project performance dimensions were used to reach to

the conclusion of this objective. These include project implementation time, planned

budget and quality expected of the project. Three questions were prepared using the

aforementioned project performance dimensions and presented to the respondents who

presented their perception as regard to the performance level of telecom projects in their

respective telecommunication companies. A five point Likert scale was adapted to

captured perceptions of the respondents concerning thereof. The scale ranged from 1=very

low extent, 2=low extent, 3= moderate extent, 4=high extent and 5= very high extent.

To analyze the results, the researcher used descriptive analysis in which the mean scores

and standard deviation were calculate and used in the interpretation of the results. The

32
factor with the highest mean was the one that most respondents thought was very high

considered and the variable with the smallest mean was the least considered. Meanwhile,

standard deviation greater than 1.5 is an indication that respondents had great diverged

opinions. The results and interpretations have been given in the table 4.2 below:

Table 4.2: Performance level of Telecommunication Projects

Variables Scale N Mean Std.

1 2 3 4 5
The extent to which project 2 0 16 16 8 42 3.67 0.95
implemented in telecom
companies meet quality
expected
The extent to which project 4 2 8 18 8 40 3.60 1.17
implemented in telecom
companies meet planned
budget
The extent to which Network 6 6 16 6 6 40 3.00 1.24
projects implemented in
telecom companies meet time
schedule
OVERALL MEAN 3.42
Interpretation of the mean
4.21-5.00 = very high performance
3.41-4.20= high performance
2.61-3.40=moderate performance
1.81-2.60= low performance
1.00-1.80= very low performance
Source: Field Data (2017)

The results in table 4.2 show that according to the respondents point of view

telecommunication projects were highly performed in terms of meeting expected qualities

33
(mean=3.67) and planned budget/cost (mean=3.6). In case of meeting planned

implementation time the performance was noted to be moderate (mean= 3.00). Generally,

the results show that performance level of the telecommunication projects among telecom

companies was high (mean=3.42).

After presenting the results of this objective the researcher carried out discussion of these

results. It should be understood that the discussion material are the results of the findings

obtained from the analysis of the study findings, ideas contributed by respondents during

interviews, ideas of researcher and other peoples who shows interest in this study and

contribute their views in one way or another. Also, findings of other researchers in this

area were included to justify the results of present study.

Meet Expected Quality

It was argued that telecommunication companies have tried hard to meet expected quality

in their projects. However, it was important to narrate here what quality means. Quality

refers to the extent to which product meets the standard. It can be also defined as the

degree of excellence (Agbor, 2011). According to Nathan (2011) quality is the extent to

which a product conforms to technical standards. The reasons mentioned to why

telecommunication companies have been performing better in terms of projects’ quality

is that the projects have been ensure availability of internet and network services in the

country. It was also added that cyber security has been highly ensured which make the

wall industry reliable to the consumers. As the results customers have been satisfied by

the services offered by the telecommunication projects. According to Zhen (2010) signal

34
transmission quality is an important issue in the provision of telecommunication services

since customers’ satisfaction base on the speed and accuracy with which their information

is transmitted. Nevertheless the issue of customers’ satisfaction with the

telecommunication services was not much considered in this present study hence other

researchers can investigate about this.

Further, telecommunication companies do not face operation difficulties following

establishment of new projects. This means that the newly executive telecommunication

projects have been meeting expected quality/standard. In short level of technology in

telecommunication industry has been improved day after day. It was argued that all

telecommunication companies have been adopting new hybrid technologies which have

become advantageous to the managers, operation officers and users. The new

technological devices are durable and cost savers. One of the of the respondents put it that

Box 1:

“Before there were very few companies in Tanzanian telecommunication

industry, therefore competition was not so tight. But the influx of many
companies in this industry raised competition hand in hand with the
formation of different strategies among these companies in order to win such
competition and stay on top of the market. One of the greatest strategies used
is improvement of their telecommunication service quality through
improvement of the delivering methods and channels.”

Another respondent said that

Box 2:
35
“In the past it was common to face telecom service outages but today such
thing is not common except in the deep rural areas where telecom masks are
very few and their operation depend much on the electric from national grid
The respondents furthermore suggest that telecommunication projects have been

characterized by purchase of quality construction projects by al companies in this industry

in the country. There is substantial empirical evidence that use of quality marterial to be

among the factors that influence the best performance in engineering projects. At this

point, it becomes clearer that engineers must understand the quality of the

material/products they want to purchase for construction of their projects so as to ensure

the best performance. In line with this the researcher stressed that in order for the

telecommunication project to perform efficiently and effectively.

Meet Planned Budget

The results continued to show that telecommunication companies have also performed

better in terms of meeting their planned budgets. It was believed that good performance

in financial matters associate with telecommunication projects has been attained as the

results of good accountabilities. Whereby, project operators are accountable for their

decisions and actions toward project operations and submit themselves to whatever

36
scrutiny is appropriate to their duties. Apart from that financial departments have been

managed with the skilled personnel with technological accounting devices (both soft and

hard wares). Also, accountants have an obligation to report and/or answer to the

companies’ managements on the consequences of their actions and decisions.

Moreover, it was argued that all project implementers (engineers, technicians, financial

officers and managers) in the telecommunication projects have been working together as

a team to make sure projects are done in sequence order and ensure that each project is

done within the budgeted cost. In case of selecting consultant, the companies have been

using proper tendering procedures in order to get qualified and trustworthy consultant who

will not abandon project on the way.

Meet a Planned Time Schedule

Concern time performance, it was discovered that the projects were performing somehow

better. According to the established interpretation scale in this study, it was found that

according to the views of respondents telecommunication projects were characterized by

moderate performance. This was due to the fact that some projects have been facing time

overrun and failed to be completed within budgeted time. More directly time management

in engineering projects has become a reason for concern basing on the fact that it has an

impact towards economic development of the country. Amidst its importance towards

economical development, time management in engineering projects include

telecommunication projects has not been maintained in African countries (Yakubu and

Sun, 2009). This has majorly been attributed by failure to adhere to the principles and

37
practices of project time management which has made it so difficult for the engineers to

accomplish the work allocated to them within the planned period of time hence leading to

delay of the project. Aibinu and Jagboro (2002) cited in Abraham (2013) acknowledged

that in Africa time management in engineering projects has to a smaller extent been

attained. According to them the main causes of unfavorable time management are

miscalculation, inadequate equipments, inadequate management, redesign, weakness in

design and additional work, adverse weather condition, financial constraints e.g late

payments, unskilled personnel.

It is also important to understand that time management is the act or process of planning

and exercising conscious control over the amount of time spent on specific activities,

especially to increase effectiveness, efficiency and productivity (Akunkunde, 2011). Time

management may be aided by a range of skills, tools, and techniques used to manage time

when accomplishing specific tasks, projects, and goals complying with a due date. From

one to attain proper time management, he/she must create conducive environment to

effectively, set priorities, carry out activities around those priorities and reduce time spent

on non priorities (Azhar, 2008).

Project time prediction is very important in determining the funds needed for the

accomplishment of the project through forecasting on the different changes that may

create an impact towards the development of the project. The study also emphasized that

for successful project time prediction; there is the need to have enough information

regarding availability, accessibility and usability of all resources and/or materials needed

38
in carrying out the project. The study noted that improper estimate of projects duration

affect utilization of funds negatively.

It was noted that one of the greatest reason for time overrun in the telecommunication

projects performed by visited companies was design change. The study indicates that

design changes were attributed to increased complexity with the degree of resource

scarcity following the alteration of the previous plan. Design changes could also attribute

to the change in the technology where by new equipments could be used in carrying out

the re-planned activities. According to Beach (2008) there is overwhelming evidences

available in the literature in support of the poor performance of the project following

changes in early design. These poor performances occur in term of cost incurred, time

needed to complete the project as well as construction quality required.

The study went ahead and calculated projects’ performance in four companies to which

researcher managed to get financial statistics of some of their projects. These are Tanzania

Telecommunication Limited (TTCL), Tigo Telecom Company, Vodacom Telecom

Company and Airtel Telecom Company. It was hard for the management of Huawei

Telecom Company to disclose financial statistics of some of their telecom projects;

therefore, it was excluded in this computation of projects’ performance. Calculation of

projects’ performance was done through earned analysis in which the study collected

statistical information regarding budgeted cost of work performed (BCWP) and actual

cost of work performed (ACWP) of some randomly selected telecom projects in the

visited companies. Randomly, the study selected six telecom projects among these were

39
performed from the year of 2012 to 2016 in each company subjected to this analysis. The

information was used to establish cost performance from for each telecom projects hand

in hand with calculation of Cost Performance Index (CPI) and Cost Variance (CV) which

are given as

BCWP
𝐶𝑃𝐼 =
ACWP

𝐶𝑉 = BCWP − ACWP

Table 4.3 shows cost statistics for selected telecom projects in each telecom company.

The same table also gives cost performance index (CPI) of the individual projects together

with the overall (general) CPI of each company.

Table 4.3: Cost Performance Index of Selected Telecom Projects

PROJECT PROJECTS PLANNED ACTUAL

YEAR BUDGET COSTS
CV CV% CPI
(USD) (USD)
TANZANIA TELECOMMUNICATION LIMITED (TTCL)
2012 UCSAF (RAN) 8,000,000 9,000,000 -1,000,000 -12.50 0.89
2014 RAN PHASE 1 6,250,000 6,250,000 0 0.00 1.00
2014 IMS -CORE 6,500,000 6,500,000 0 0.00 1.00
2015 PS-CORE 6,000,000 6,000,000 0 0.00 1.00
2015 CS-CORE 6,000,000 6,000,000 0 0.00 1.00
2016 RAN PHASE 2 6,250,000 6,000,000 250,000 4.00 1.04
Total 39,000,000 39,750,000 -750,000 -1.92 0.98
TIGO TELECOM COMPANY
2012 UCSAF (RAN) 1,500,000 2,000,000 -500,000 -33.33 0.75
2014 PS-CORE 9,000,000 9,500,000 -500,000 -5.56 0.95
2015 CS-CORE 8,700,000 9,000,000 -300,000 -3.45 0.97
2015 RAN PHASE 1 1,250,000 1,250,000 0 0.00 1.00

40
 2015 RAN PHASE 2 8,500,000 8,500,000 0 0.00 1.00
2016 RAN PHASE 3 6,000,000 6,200,000 -200,000 -3.33 0.97
Total 34,950,000 36,450,000 -1,500,000 -4.29 0.96
VODACOM TELECOM COMPANY
2012 UCSAF (RAN) 8500000 9000000 -500,000 -5.88 0.94
2012 PS-CORE 8000000 8000000 0 0.00 1.00
2013 CS-CORE 9000000 9500000 -500,000 -5.56 0.95
2015 RAN PHASE 1 8000000 8200000 -200,000 -2.50 0.98
2015 RAN PHASE 2 9800000 9000000 800,000 8.16 1.09
2016 RAN PHASE 3 8500000 8750000 -250,000 -2.94 0.97
Total 51800000 52450000 -650,000 -1.25 0.99
AIRTEL TELECOM COMPANY
2012 UCSAF (RAN) 1200000 1207000 -7,000 -0.58 0.99
2013 PS-CORE 9000000 9080000 -80,000 -0.89 0.99
2014 CS-CORE 8740000 9000000 -260,000 -2.97 0.97
2015 RAN PHASE 1 7000000 7000000 0 0.00 1.00
2015 RAN PHASE 2 8500000 8500000 0 0.00 1.00
2016 RAN PHASE 3 6500000 7099000 -599,000 -9.22 0.92
Total 40940000 41886000 -946,000 -2.31 0.98
Source: Secondary Data (2017)

The results of the table 4.3 above have shown that in all projects understudy total actual

cost (ACWP) was higher than total budgeted cost (BCWP) since the total cost variance

was negative to all projects. Specifically, for the six assessed projects, in TCCL there was

addition of USD 750,000 which brings Cost Performance Index (CPI) to 0.98. Projects in

Tigo Telecom Company spent addition of USD 1,500,000 and CPI became 0.96; in

Vodacom’s project additional cost amount to USD 650,000 and CPI was 0.99; Airtel’s

project additional cost was USD 946,000 with CPI of 0.98

It is meaningful to note that according to Association for the Advancement of Cost

Engineering (AACE, 1990) the CPI has been classified in to four categories which are:

“poor” where range of CPI is between 0-0.8; “fair” which needs improvement-where

range of CPI is between 0.81-0.99; “good” where the range is between 1-1.2 and

41
“exception” where the range is above 1.2. Hence, in terms of project’s cost performance

it becomes clearly understood that the telecom companies in Tanzania have performed

fairly and there is the need for this companies to improve their budge estimations. This is

because the cultivated total CPI for each company was neither below 0.8 nor greater than

0.99.

4.3.2 Factors affecting success of Telecommunication Projects

The second specific objective was to identify factors affecting success of telecom projects

among telecom companies. Variables for determine factors affecting performance of

telecommunication projects were prepared inform of short sentence and presented to the

respondents who were asked to give their opinions. The same five points Likert scale

model of response which range from 1=very low extent to 5=very high extent was

adopted. Descriptive analysis was first employed followed by t-test.

The results of descriptive analysis have been given in the table 4.3 below, whereby mean

score, standard deviation was used to rank the results according to the descending order

of their importance. The variables with highest mean are the one which were voted to have

high effect in telecommunication projects and vice versa.

The results in the table 44 revealed that respondents of this study suggested almost all the

variables analyzed had high effect in the success of telecommunication projects in the

country. This is because the mean values were ranging from 3.41 to 4.2 which implies that

the variables had high effects in the success of telecommunication projects.

Table 4.4: Factors affecting success of Telecommunication Projects-Descriptive

42
 Variables Scale N Mean Std.
1 2 3 4 5
Project fund 0 4 10 8 20 42 4.05 1.06
Clearly defined roles and 0 2 8 22 10 42 3.95 0.80
responsibilities
Accurate schedule and plans 0 6 8 12 16 42 3.90 1.08
Project management techniques 0 2 10 22 8 42 3.86 0.78
Top Management support 0 4 12 14 12 42 3.81 0.97
Project team motivation 0 8 4 18 12 42 3.81 1.07
Training the human resources 0 2 14 18 8 42 3.76 0.82
Availability of adequate 0 2 16 16 8 42 3.71 0.84
resources
Experience and expertise of the 0 4 16 10 12 42 3.71 1.00
project manager/leaders
Client/ vendors Consultation 0 6 12 12 12 42 3.71 1.04
Employees involvement within 0 6 12 16 8 42 3.62 0.96
the project
Monitoring and evaluation 0 6 12 18 6 42 3.57 0.91
Competent project team 0 8 10 16 8 42 3.57 1.02
members
Technical expertise 0 6 16 12 8 42 3.52 0.97
Project size 0 10 20 10 2 42 3.10 0.82
Number of Projects per year 2 8 20 10 2 42 3.05 0.91
OVERALL MEAN 3.67
Interpretation of the mean
4.21-5.00 = very high effect
3.41-4.20= high effect
2.61-3.40=moderate effect
1.81-2.60= low effect
1.00-1.80= very low effect
Source: Field data (2017)

43
According to the descending order of importance (i.e. decrease effect) the factors have

been presented as follow: project fund (mean=4.05), clearly defined roles and

responsibilities (mean=3.95), accurate schedule and plans (mean= 3.90), project

management techniques (mean= 3.86), project management techniques (mean= 3.86), top

Management support (mean= 3.81), project team motivation (mean=3.81), training the

human resources (mean= 3.76), availability of adequate resources (mean= 3.71),

experience and expertise of the project manager/leaders (mean=3.71), client/vendors

consultation (mean= 3.71), employees involvement within the project (mean= 3.62),

monitoring and evaluation (mean= 3.57), competent project team members (mean= 3.57),

technical expertise (mean= 3.52), project size (mean= 3.10) and lastly number of projects

undertaken per year (mean=3.05). However, the size of the project and number of the

project undertaken per year were voted to have moderate effect in the success of

telecommunication project.

The results were subjected to one sample t-test in order to determine which factors/criteria

significantly affect success of telecommunication projects. This test was chosen since it is

used when investigator wants to know whether the mean of the score/variable from which

the sample is drawn is the same as the hypothesized mean (or average mean of the scores).

Hence, mean of each identified individual criterion was tested against the average mean;

the average mean was calculated and found to be 3.67. But since this is non parametric

test and the results based on the peoples/respondents perceptions, therefore, in interpreting

the results of t-test let us neglect the observed negative signs of t-values and that of

Confidence Intervals (CIs) and concentrate on the meaning of p-values. These negative
44
values are the results of the effects of the mean difference which was obtained after

subtracting the value of average mean from the actual mean of the given variable. Now,

the results of such t-test have been shown in the table 4.5.

The results of t-test indicate that factors which have significant power to predict success

of telecommunication projects are project size (p<0.001), number of the project

undertaken per year (p<0.001), clearly defined roles and responsibilities (p=0.026) and

project funds (p=0.026). The remaining factors are not good predictors of success of

telecommunication projects. After that discussion of the obtained results followed as

explained below:

Table 4.5: Factors affecting success of Telecommunication Projects-T test

45
 Test Value = 3.67
t df Sig. Mean 95% Confidence Interval
(2-tailed) Difference of the Difference
Lower Upper
Availability of adequate
.344 41 .733 .044 -.22 .30
resources
Top Management support .933 41 .356 .140 -.16 .44
Project size -4.538 41 .000 -.575 -.83 -.32
Number of Projects per year -4.435 41 .000 -.622 -.91 -.34
Technical expertise -.978 41 .334 -.146 -.45 .16
Training the human
.726 41 .472 .092 -.16 .35
resources
Project team motivation .849 41 .401 .140 -.19 .47
Client/ vendors Consultation .275 41 .784 .044 -.28 .37
Monitoring and evaluation -.699 41 .489 -.099 -.38 .19
communication within the
.986 41 .330 .140 -.15 .43
project team
Project management
1.549 41 .129 .187 -.06 .43
techniques
Accurate schedule and plans 1.412 41 .166 .235 -.10 .57
Clearly defined roles and
2.302 41 .026 .282 .03 .53
responsibilities
Employees involvement
-.343 41 .733 -.051 -.35 .25
within the project
Experience and expertise of
.289 41 .774 .044 -.27 .35
the project manager/leaders
Competent project team
-.629 41 .533 -.099 -.42 .22
members
Project fund 2.313 41 .026 .378 .05 .71

Project funds

46
It was noted that funds is the main factor affecting almost all projects include

telecommunication projects. Certainly, project fund has been seen to be the big factor that

affect success of telecom projects among telecom companies. Availability of enough funds to

perform all required activities of the project was mentioned to associate with better

performance of the project. While lack of enough budget disappoint project performance. One

of the responded TCCL network engineering said that sometime they fail to accomplish

projects implementation on time because of lack of enough funds.

It has also been pin pointed by Belassi, W. and Tukelo (2016) that lack of enough budgets

is the number one challenge to the Uganda Telecom Company to expand its services in

upcountry. From most literature reviewed, it is obvious that significant number of authors

consider shortage of funds to be very important hindering factors in African projects and

other third world countries. Therefore, due to that the companies especially telecom

companies must make sure that enough budgets is allocated to the important projects

which aimed at expanding their services.

Box 3:

“…..if the purchasing budget is not enough to buy all required material then
the project has to wait and that make the activities to take more time than
expected.”

47
Clearly defined roles and responsibilities

The second factor affecting performance of telecom project was mentioned to be clear

defined roles and responsibility among project executors. The study argued that in order

to prevent misunderstanding among project members as well as prevent unnecessary delay

each personnel/player or department should have specific task to perform. Well stated job

description should be provided to everyone according to his/her task(s) in the project.

Accurate schedule and plans

According to the descending order of priority, accurate schedule and plans was mentioned

to be the third factor with high effect in the performance of telecom projects. It was noted

that project time prediction is very important in determining the funds needed for the

accomplishment of the project through forecasting on the different changes that may

create an impact towards development of the project. The study also emphasized that for

successful project time prediction; there is the need to having enough information

regarding availability, accessibility and usability of all resources and/or materials needed

in carrying out the project. Further, it was argued that improper estimate of projects

duration affect utilization of funds negatively.

One of the ways of develop a better schedule is conduction of activities sampling which

is one of the tools/techniques used by management in all productive projects for

productivity measurement and obtaining information about the time spent on productive

and non-productive activities by workers. In trying to know what could be the cause of

48
delay in telecom project; researcher got the chance to chart with one of responded project

managers who put out that

Box 3:

“One of the weaknesses in the telecom organizations/companies in this

country is lack of activity sampling which is the common tool method for
analyzing possible cause of poor performance in the project. Additionally he
recommended for introduction of activity sampling to all technological
companies.”

Project management techniques

However, the researcher also narrated that successful projects time evaluation is catalyzed

by high degree of knowledge and understanding on what is needed in carrying out the

project through the use of technical experts with experience on what activities can easily

affect cost performance of telecom projects. However, weak management of the project

can be observe if project is at the hands of managers with low management skills this is

because misunderstanding will exist between project workers. On other hand lazy

manager is not able to keep detailed and accurate records of expenses, hence stimulate

misuse of the funds. Jackson (2012) proclaimed that many uncertainties in engineering

projects, include financial uncertainty, stems from the complexity of the management in

49
realizing early warning of misunderstanding among project team members and resolve the

situation.

Top Management support

The study shows that top management support is among the factors that are also highly

affect the success of project among telecom companies. It can be said that top managers

provided strong support to their team so as to implement those projects at the time

required. It revealed that in the visited telecom companies there was the good relationship

between top management and other staff from Middle and lower class and the hierarchy

of power is clearly defined. The top management can provide fund and other materials so

as to implement their projects at the time required by setting objectives for each activities

to be carried out within the projects.

However, it was discussed that weak management of any project can results to the over

budgeting, time overrun, abandonment or collapse of the project; the phenomena which

signify poor performance. in an interview with respondents it was noted that if project is

at the hands of managers with low management skills as regard engineering work,

misunderstanding will exist between project workers. As a result of this, some part of

construction funds as well as time will be lost in solving disputes. On other hand lazy

manager is not able to keep detailed and accurate records of expenses, hence stimulate

misuse of the funds. Jackson (2012) proclaimed that many uncertainties in engineering

projects, include financial uncertainty, stems from the complexity of the management in

realizing early warning or misunderstanding among project team members and resolve the

50
situation. One of the responded engineering consultants, who introduced himself as Eng.

Steven Mwelele, asserted that

Box 3:

“effective engineering project management can be attained where by project

managers can be able to see the big picture, anticipate variables that can
impact a cost control or activities schedules, and have a plan in place to deal
with potential problems.”

The researcher of this study was in support of the Eng. Mwelele’s views and supplemented

by stating that good managerial skills to the project managers; contribute in high level of

preparedness so as to take advantage of opportunities that arise. These skills keep their

resumes up to date so they can respond quickly to constraints arise in the course of the

project before they will bring difficulties in the project.

Project team motivation

Team member or staff motivation refers to both internal and external factors that stimulate

the energy and desire in people to become more commitment to their jobs so as to attain

a set goal (Iyer and Jha, 2015). Internal factors are those within the organization such as

promotions, retention increased payments, trainings and skills development among others

while external factors political stability within the area, costs of leaving, and

environmental conditions among others. It can also be termed as a driving force that causes

a change from desire to will in life (Chang, 2012). In short it can be summarized that

51
motivation is the way of apprising employees to work towards achievement of

organization objectives.

In this study it was highly accepted that team motivation has high effect in the performance

of telecom projects. Concern team motivation in the visited companies it was discovered

that there was the motivations for the team members within the project that encourage and

motivate them to perform their duties effectively. The companies had introduced some

incentives for the technological staff so as to trigger their morally at working places, the

manner which increase their effectiveness in their duties.

Availability of adequate resources

There is high relationship between better performance and availability and accessibility

of required resource. In this study it was accepted that availability of materials for telecom

projects has been getting easy due to the increase of utilization of telecom services.

Although most of required material and/or equipments are imported but there are very

many producers of these materials/equipments required for telecom projects in developing

countries where we import from. The increase of telecom materials/equipments

production has even led to the decrease of purchasing cost. It was researcher argument

that availability of enough materials/equipments plays a significant part in improving the

cost performance through facilitating the accomplishment of the activities within the

stipulated time depending on the level of “know-how” to use the available equipments.

Also, most of telecom companies had enough financial and information resources to

implement their specific goals and objectives. In the study conducted by (Cheng, et al,

52
2012) concern construction projects in the republic of South Africa it was commented that

there is direct relationship between performance of construction projects and availability

of construction materials.

However, to have the best engineering projects in the country, there is a need of proper

education system for extensive science and technology so as to ensure continuation of

proper use of the modern equipment. It was also mentioned that availability of human

resources (i.e. experts in telecom field) is not so hard in the country due to the fact that

there are many grandaunts in the country which are able to perform many

telecommunication chores. On top of that, it was narrated that now days university and

collages in this country has been produce skillful peoples in the engineering and

technological arena.

Experience and expertise of the project manager/leaders

It was accepted that most of the locally available technicians and engineers in electrical

and telecommunication industry have enough skills perform their jobs well. They also

tend to utilize their skills to the maximum in order to win market competition. One of

respondents said that “some of engineering project in this country fail not because there

is no skilled people to perform them; rather, it is because of lack of financial and material

resources.” It was also added that managers and leaders in engineering projects have skills

relating to the engineering works but lack management skills which is also virtual for the

project to perform better. The overwhelming evidence available in supporting the idea that

53
management skill in very important in performance of any project is ability to organize

team in proper manner so as to implement the designed project successfully.

On other side, inadequate project management skills and miscalculations are the bigger

contributors of construction delay. This has been also reported by various research reports

from different scholars and researchers who conducted their studies in engineering related

projects. Oluwoye (2003) reported that bad supervision is a major problem facing the

Ghana water and electricity supply projects. Enshassi, et al (2009) added that inadequate

supervision is the source of endemic project delay in Ghana and Nigeria and their

economic and social impact is often discussed. Nonetheless, some studies (Adrian, 2002;

Howell, 1981 among others) indicate that workers on a construction project are

unproductive for 50 percent of their time on site and this is due to the poor management’s

control. For that reason, it can be understood that improving management skills and

practices in engineering industry can therefore reduce poor performance significantly

which in turn lead to the economic and social growth of the country.

Employees involvement within the project

Employee involvement or engagement was also voted to have high effect in the

performance of engineering projects. It was discussed that in the projects where

employees engaged/involved better performance can be attained easily compare to where

employees disengaged. The readiness of worker to participate effectively to the project

can be brought by clearly defined responsibilities to each staff that might lead to clear

implementation of the project. In this study it was noted that there was moderate

54
participation of technical staffs within the telecom projects due to the moderate

relationship that existed among staff and managements. Engaged employees are those who

give full discretionary effort at work, and are highly vigorous and dedicated to their job,

while disengaged employees are those who are motivationally disconnected from work,

who do not have the energy to work hard and who are not enthusiastic at work (Towers

2009). Many researchers have shown the positive effect of employee engagement (i.e.,

HR outcome) on organizational performance. According to Bakker et al (2008), there are

at least four reasons why engaged employees perform better than non-engaged employees.

First, engaged employees often experience positive emotions (e.g., happiness, joy and

enthusiasm). Second, engaged employees experience better health. Third, engaged

employees create their own job resources and personal resources. Fourth, engaged

employees transfer their engagement to others.

However, employees’ engagement is a relatively new concept in the academic community

but has been heavily promoted by consulting companies (Knight, 2011). It can be defined

as the harnessing of organizational members selves to their work roles where people

express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally during role performances. In

order to be engaged, an individual has to think, feel and act on their job. In other words,

this mental state constitutes a driving force which requires physical, cognitive and

emotional resources. The concept has also been defined as an individual’s involvement,

satisfaction and enthusiasm for work (Harter, et al. 2012). Knight (2011) added that top

management must be able to analyze the integration of concept of employee engagement

into corporate strategy. Employees’ engagement which may be aligned with job
55
satisfaction is all about employee’s connection and commitment to their organization.

According to Kressler (2003), in order to compete today; companies need to win over the

minds (rational commitment) and the hearts (emotional commitment) of employee in ways

that lead to extraordinary effort. When employees are involved in making decision on

some issues concerning their organization they feel proud to be part of that particular

organization and once their proud they will be in a position to measure their performance

individually.

During discussion the study argued that through proper designing of project activities

while taking into account of the unknown disparities, the project management can

reorganize and figure out the possible impacts of disparities in the project; and at the end

resulted into proper implementation of project activities through increased degree of

employee engagement which usually help in solving management problems that can cost

the project. The researcher suggested that for the proper close monitoring of the project

performance there is the need of fully involvement of all key players from the beginning

to the end of the project.

Monitoring and evaluation

It was discussed that insufficient detailed evaluation is one of the greater roots for poor

performance in telecom project and even other non-telecom projects. Detailed evaluation

is termed as process that critically examines a project that involved collection and analysis

of information about a project activities, characteristics, and outcomes with the main aim

of making judgments about the project in order to improve its effectiveness. Olawale and

56
Van (2011) attested that detailed evaluation is dependant of the different aspects such as

resource needs evaluation, implementation evaluation, outcome evaluation and impact

evaluation. Chang (2002) and Mwandosya (2008) noted that project detailed evaluation is

a determinate of cost performance through providing information on how to improve

project designs and implementation. It also helps in a periodic assessment of the project

and identifying areas for improvement so as to ultimately help in the realization of project

goals more effectively. In the context of cost overrun, it was argued that insufficient

detailed evaluation of the project prior to commencement of the project implementation

lead to the poor estimation of the resources needed to carry out the project.

Competent project team members

Involvement of competent (enough skilled) staff in telecom project is one of the aspects

of good performance. It was argued that presence of enough skilled and knowledgeable

staff in telecom companies ensures good performances of the telecom projects in the

country. This is because the project team are aware of what is suppose to be done and the

right time to do the task. They can also understand quick ways of solving the emergency

telecommunication problems. The study continued that it is very hard/difficult for the

telecom company without experience technical staff to perform well in terms of

technological advancement. This is the reason why the respondent of this study asserted

that in order for the telecom company to work effectively and perform their duties well,

there must be enough number of personals with skills and knowledge on engineering

and/or information communication technology.

57
The study argued that no organization /institution which can perform successful without

having qualified/skilled man power. The presence of enough skilled technical staff within

the technological company, such as telecom companies, can also give the management

confidence to believe that the company has ability to continue providing service to the

client since all core duties can be performed well and in time. Therefore, telecom

companies must be filled with enough technological skilled staff. Additionally, it should

be understood that the presence of enough skilled staff in telecom companies does not

only mean the person with high level of education and qualification but also the

professional approach to the technological activities. The work force must be adequately

educated in technological areas so that the technical projects will be performed effectively.

Faniran (2009) has explained the problem of lacking proper knowledge and skills in the

technological companies by saying that, the shortage of skills and capacity have been

identified as the single greatest impediment to the success and development of modern

technology in many Sub-Sahara Countries. This clearly means that in order for successful

technological companies (i.e. whether telecom companies or not) as well as developed

technological industry in the country, there is the need of having enough personnel with

skills and knowledge on procurement activities. At this point, it becomes clearer that

technological companies like telecom companies should conduct thorough academic

investigation of all job applicants in order to ensure the companies are equipped with

technologically skilled people. The companies should also provide regular refreshment

trainings to those who are ready employed. The refreshment trainings will enable

employees to learn new ways of performing their duties which are used in other countries.
58
Project size

Another factor which can affect performance of Telecom Company is the size of the

project. It was said that when project is bigger than ability of the work force, the project

will experience poor performance. Feng, et al (2010) put it that project size management

has become a major challenge face some engineering projects. These may be due to

increasing design complexity, more rigorous federal and state regulations, as well as

socioeconomic changes which affect the workforce.

Lastly, about sixteen factors were analyzed in this study to affect performance of telecom

companies. But there must be some other factors affecting performance of telecom

projects and therefore, researcher suggested that another study to be conducted while

analyzing other factors apart from these which can also have an impact in telecom projects.

4.3.3 Strategies for Successful Implementation of Telecommunication Projects

This is the third specific objectives of the study and was looking for strategic factors to

ensure successful implementation of telecom projects in Tanzania telecom companies.

Different variables were prepared and presented to the respondents in order to give their

opinions on which variables/factors should be considered as the best ways of attaining

good performance in telecom projects. The variables were presented to the respondents in

form of short sentences with response mode of five Likert scale points that range from

1=strongly disagree to 5=strongly agree. Data collected were subjected to the descriptive

analysis in which mean and STD were considered in drawing conclusion. In the

interpretation of the results after conducting descriptive analysis of the findings the mean

59
scores of 1.00-2.32 have been taken to present variables which were “unimportant” in

ensuring successful implementation of telecom project. The mean score of 2.33-3.65 have

been taken to represent variables that were “fairly important” and the mean scores of 3.66-

5.00 have been taken to present variables that were “very important” in the success of

telecom projects. The results have been presented in table 4.6.

According to the opinions of the respondents it can be said that for the telecom project to

be successful there is the need for the telecom companies to make regular meetings and

share information within and across the companies (mean 4.14), conduct regular project

monitoring (mean 4.05), should also use proper technological tools to monitor cost and

scheduling the progress of the project (mean 3.95), together with consulting project

management experts before beginning the project (mean 3.93). Also, it was accepted that

adhering to the policy and legislation pertain to technology may influence success and/or

performance of telecom projects.

Table 4.6: Strategies for Successful implementation of Telecommunication Projects

Strategies Scales Mean Std.

1 2 3 4 5

Have regular meetings and share 3 1 3 15 20 4.14 .724

information
Regular project monitoring 3 2 4 13 19 4.05 .640
Use proper technological tools to 0 2 14 10 16 3.95 .704
monitor cost and scheduling the
progress of the project
Consulting project management 2 6 2 15 17 3.93 .704
experts before beginning the
project

60
 Adhering to the policy and 4 4 11 13 10 3.50 1.000
legislation pertain to technology
Interpretation of the Mean
3.66-5.00=very important factor
2.33-3.65= fairly important factor
1.00-2.32= unimportant factor
Source: Field Data (2017)

Regular meetings and information sharing

It was argued that having regular meeting and manner of information sharing count help

in avoidance of unplanned delays in telecom projects. Regular meetings and information

sharing act as the means of ensuring all activities are in line with the planned time and

budget. In line with the concept of regular meetings and information sharing it was agreed

that early delays can be recovered through improved communication, addition or

reduction on the amount of resources depending on the need, resolving of problematic

technical issues and re-justifying of the projects implementation process. Different authors

have narrated that through proper communication within different department in the

engineering and technological projects implementation processes have been simplified.

This is because proper communication between key players called for share of knowledge

within the project and this may, in turn, lead to the proper utilization of available

resources.

Regular project Monitoring

For the successful telecom project there is the need of establish effective project

monitoring and valuation using recognized and accepted methodologies. This has been
61
coupled with effective demonstration of leadership in management of the project. It was

argued that managers should be capable of providing effective planning and monitoring

of all activities in and outside the project. Gunaydın and Dogan (2004) also noted that

increased project cost performance has been attain through the use of a project

management system as a model for management philosophy and strategy in proper

planning, organizing, leading and controlling the use of project resources. It was further

argued that through proper monitoring; it is possible for project managers to identify the

performance of the projects so as to attain the best results regarding utilization of the

allocated resources. A number of researchers such as Hwang and Lim (2012) have

indicated that there is a close relationship between cost performances of the projects and

project monitoring activities. The researcher of this present study is in support of this close

relationship. This is because monitoring help to ensure that objective activities are met

within an estimated budget and time, identifying successes, identifying problems and

weakness so they can be rectified before cause harm to the entire project.

For the proper monitoring of project there is the need of preparing a checklist. It was

accepted with respondents that in determining cost performance of complex project such

as telecom projects, preparation of check list is virtual important factor and was effectively

considered in almost all visited companies in this study. One of respondent said that

Box 4:

“……….preparation of the check list is relevant in providing a schedule that

can lay out the day to day tasks to be carried out within the budgeted cost.”

62
Feng, et al., (2010) explained that check list helps in ensuring consistency and

completeness in carrying out a task with an example of “to do list.” Therefore, improper

checklist preparation can lead to the misuse of the funds. This being the fact the study

concluded that proper preparation of check can assist in monitoring project activities for

the better performance; since it bringing out the best picture of how the project should be

managed.

Another useful way of project monitoring is preparation of good accountability. The

discussion argued that proper preparation of activities’ accountabilities in telecom projects

is a widely used financial and economic appraisal tool for attaining value for many. It is

particularly useful when making choice in implementation of project activities and when

the project is complex and involved a stream cost overrun. Sound accountability can be

attained through use of an integrated project planning approaches and developing a

baseline plan representing the budgeted cost of work scheduled. The baseline plan allowed

the preparation of a cumulative spending curve and daily, weekly as well as monthly cost

histogram for both project design and implementation activities. The researcher was in

support of the above and suggested that improvement of manner of preparing effectively

accountabilities is the most necessary factors in monitoring cost performance of any

project not only telecom projects.

Use of proper technological tools

63
The use of proper technological tools to monitor cost and scheduling the progress of the

project was also voted to be important factor for successful telecom project

implementation. It was said that in carrying out telecom projects implementers usually

look on the ways of increase project simplicity by doing several activities such as adopting

use of modern equipments. The modern equipment work faster and therefore help to

speedup project implementation processes while reducing inputs such as number of

labourers who need to be paid for their labour. According to Abraham (2013) the new

computerized equipments have created a significant impact towards increased

productivity in all sector of economy especially in technological industry. In addition to

that, this has also contributed to the reduction on the rate of accidents in the engineering

sites. It should be noted that accidents reduce project funds since a victim has to be

compensated with the money which was not initial estimated in the budget. There is no

doubt that modern technological equipment (i.e. computerized machines) simplifies works

than previously equipment.

64
 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction

This chapter provides summary of the findings, conclusions and recommendations to the

main findings presented in chapter four by relating them to the specific objectives of the

study while reflecting on the methods used to obtain and analyze data. The chapter ends

with identifying areas for further research.

5.2 Summary

The study posed three research questions to be answered and the questions were: what is

the performance level of telecom projects? what are the factors affecting

performance/success of telecom projects among telecom companies? What are the

strategies to ensure successful implementation of projects by telecom companies? The

questions were answered and here are the summary of the findings relating to them.

5.2.1 Performance level of telecommunication Projects

Studying performance level of telecom project was the first aim of this study. Various

variables were analyzed in order to understand thereof. Descriptive statistic was the only

analysis performed on the data pertains to this objective. The study found that visited

telecom companies had performed better on meeting expected qualities of their telecom

projects, control cost overrun and time overrun. Generally, the results show that

performance level of the telecom projects among selected telecom companies was high.

65
5.2.2 Factors affecting success of Telecommunication Projects

The second specific objective was to analyze factors affecting success of telecom projects

in which the researcher conducted descriptive analysis and t-test to reach to the conclusion

of this objective. According to the descending order of importance the study found that

factors affecting performance/success of telecom projects were the following project fund,

clearly defined roles and responsibilities, accurate schedule and plans, project

management techniques, project management techniques, top management support,

project team motivation, training the human resources, availability of adequate resources,

experience and expertise of the project manager/leaders, client/vendors consultation,

employees involvement within the project, monitoring and evaluation, competent project

team members, technical expertise, project size and number of projects undertaken per

year. The results of t-test shown that project size, number of the project undertaken per

year, clearly defined roles and responsibilities and project funds were factors which could

significantly affect success/performance of telecom projects.

5.2.3 Strategies for successful implementation of telecom projects

The last specific objective called for the strategies for successful implementation of

telecom project. It was noted that for successful implementation of telecom projects there

is the need for the telecom companies to make regular meetings and share information

within and across the companies, conduct regular project monitoring, use proper

technological tools to monitor cost and scheduling the progress of the project, consulting

66
project management experts before beginning the project as well as adhering to the policy

and legislation pertain to technology.

5.3 Recommendation

Based on the findings of the study the following recommendations have been identified

for the purpose of increasing performance of telecom projects in the country. These are as

follows:

 The study recommended for the more proper planning of activities in telecom

projects through the use of proper managerial and technical skills. This will help

in avoiding unplanned delays in carrying out project activities; improve on project

simplicity and recovery early delays among others. Hence better cost, time and

quality performance will be attained.

 There is the need of maintain good/proper accountability with high level of

fairness and transparency from the time of preparation to the implementation of

the project so as to always meet the planned budgets.

 The study further recommended that there is the need of conducting frequently

critical project performance appraisal and involvement of all key players in project

decision making process. This will help in good project screening, risk

67
 identification and proper strategies formulation which will ensure better

performance.

 Having presented the different measures for improving performance in the telecom

projects, the study recommended for the well implementation of the so listed

measures in order to meet the required performances in all aspect of the telecom

projects.

5.4 Areas for further Research

Actually the study focused on the factors affecting performance of telecom projects in

Tanzania while focusing on the projects carried out in Dar es Salaam. Therefore, there is

the need of other researchers to conduct other related studies but focusing on telecom

projects carried out in other regions in order to gets the full picture of factors affecting

performance telecom projects in Tanzania. Additionally, there is the need of conducting

other studied on telecom project performance that include other variables such as

customers’ satisfaction with the telecom services in the country and return of the projects

to the telecom companies.

68
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Azhar, O., Gaddis, P. (2008). The Project Manager. Harvard Business Review , Vol 37(3),

pp 89.

Bakker, A., and Schaufeli E (2008) Towards a model of work engagementCareer

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http://ppi.worldbank.org/snapshots/country/tanzania

Appendix I: Explanation by Figures

Gender of Respondents

75
 Gender of Respondents

14.30%

Male
female

85.70%

Education Qualification of respondents

Education Qualification of respondents

5%
14%

Diploma
Degree
Masters

81%

Working Position of Respondents

76
 Working Position of Respondents
5.60%

Project Manager
Network Engineer

94.40%

Work experience

4.80% Work experience

4.80%
4.80%

1-5 years
6-10 years
14.30%
11-15 years
16-20 years
71.40% Above 21 years

Performance level of Telecommunication Projects

77
 Performance level of
Telecommunication Projects
4
3.5
3
2.5
Mean

2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Meet expected quality Meet planned budget Meet time schedule
Performance Indicators

Factors affecting Success of Telecommunication Project

78
 4.5 Factors affecting success of Telecommunication Projects
4
3.5
3
MEAN

2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

FACTORS

Strategies for Successful implementation of Telecommunication Projects

79
 4.2 Strategies for Successful implementation of
Telecommunication Projects
4

3.8
MEAN

3.6

3.4

3.2

3
Have regular Regular project Use proper Consulting Adhering to the
meetings and monitoring technological project policy and
share tools to management legislation
information monitor cost experts before pertain to
and scheduling beginning the technology
the progress of project
the project
STRATEGIES

80