Uganda - Key Statistics, Regulatory & Fixed-Line Telecoms Overviews

Synopsis

Once referred to as the Pearl of Africa, then devastated by civil war, peace and radical economic reforms have transformed Uganda into one of the fastest and most consistently growing economies on the continent. The entry of MTN as the second national operator to compete with Uganda Telecom in all telecom services, including fixed lines and a total of five mobile networks, has revolutionised the sector. At around 30%, total teledensity is still below the African average, and all market segments are experiencing strong growth. A new simplified and converged licensing regime has significantly reduced barriers to market entry and increased competition, but this has also led to an unsustainable price war. Major initiatives have been launched to bring telecommunication services and the Internet to rural areas of the country. International submarine fibre optic cables arriving at the African east coast for the first time in 2009/10 will dramatically reduce the cost of international bandwidth, in combination with several national backbone networks being rolled out.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
  
• 2. Key statistics
  
• 3. Telecommunications Market
  
  • 3.1 Overview of Uganda’s telecom market
    
• 4. Regulatory environment
  
  • 4.1 Background
    
  • 4.2 Regulatory authority
    
    • 4.2.1 Uganda Communications Commission
      
  • 4.3 Telecommunications Policy 1996
    
  • 4.4 Uganda Communications Act 1997
    
  • 4.5 Telecom sector liberalisation in Uganda
    
    • 4.5.1 New competition framework 2005
      
    • 4.5.2 National ICT Policy
      
    • 4.5.3 Licensing prior to 2007
      
    • 4.5.4 New licensing regime 2007
      
    • 4.5.5 Additional mobile networks
      
  • 4.6 Interconnection
    
  • 4.7 Number portability
    
  • 4.8 Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF)
    
  • 4.9 Regulation of Interception of Communication Bill 2007
    
  • 4.10 Cyber crime legislation
    
  • 4.11 Consumer rights
    
  • 4.12 Fixed-line statistics
    
• 5. Fixed network operators in Uganda
  
  • 5.1 Uganda Telecom (UT)
    
    • 5.1.1 Privatisation
      
    • 5.1.2 Network infrastructure
      
    • 5.1.3 Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
      
  • 5.2 MTN Uganda
    
    • 5.2.1 Wireless local loop (WLL)
      
    • 5.2.2 National backbone network
      
• 6. National fibre backbone
  
• 7. International infrastructure
  
• 8. VSAT networks
  
• 9. Related reports
  

• Table 1 – Country statistics – 2009
• Table 2 – Telephone network statistics – 2008
• Table 3 – Internet provider statistics – July 2009
• Table 4 – Internet statistics – 2008
• Table 5 – Mobile statistics – March 2009
• Table 6 – National telecommunications authority
• Table 7 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1995 - 2008
• Table 8 – MTN Uganda fixed-line subscribers – 2004 - 2008

• Exhibit 1 – International gateway licences fees