By John Birungi Babirukamu
Uganda’s ICT sector growth over the past 36 years has been championed by an enthusiastic private sector, with a guiding hand from the government, particularly through liberalization of the sector and more recently through deliberate policy through an empowered Ministry of ICT & National Guidance.
The ICT sector’s innovation & growth has always been inextricably linked with developments in the telecom sub-sector, which through its fierce rivalry has spurred growth in other sub-sectors by drastically reducing costs of connectivity in its ever- expanding networks countrywide.
The sector traces its roots to the pre-1990s in a nearly dormant state, having UTV & radio Uganda as the sole TV & radio channels and the now-defunct Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (UPTC) created in 1977 at the dissolution of the East African community, limping on from years of war and neglect.
Jump starting the ICT Sector
The change came in the gradual liberalization of the sector, first with Peter Katiti’s Cablesat TV which was launched in 1992. Closely followed by Sanyu TV, Sanyu FM and Capital FM in 1993, opening shop to give Ugandans a different flare of information and entertainment.
The telecom and internet service sub-sectors too, saw gradual liberalization and growth giving Ugandans, outside banking and academia, their first experience with the internet through dial-in services provided by early players like Infomail in 1995, and through the various internet cafes that sprung forth to life, albeit charging exorbitant fees as high as UGX 2,000 per minute.
With the Communications Act enacted in 1997, UPTC was dissolved into Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL), Uganda Post Limited (now trading as Posta), Post Bank Uganda and Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), which was given the role of industry regulator. With the newly granted powers to grant licenses, UCC went on to accept an application from the MTN Group in April 1998 to compete with Celtel Uganda
(Now Airtel Uganda) which had launched its operations in 1995, sparking a three-way telecommunications service race with UTL.
Mobile telephony and high-speed Internet for the masses
The introduction of MTN into the eco-system saw the number of mobile subscribers surpass that of fixed-line users by a ratio of more than 18:1 in one year, drastically dropping the cost to customers and extending mobile phone services from a few enclaves in Kampala, Jinja, and Entebbe to the rest of the country, at a fraction of the cost. Further introduction of more telecom players like Warid Telecom and Orange Telecom in 2008, forced an even further drop in telephony prices, and the introduction of 3G and 4G internet.
High-speed internet connectivity along the way has spurred business growth in the entire ICT sector from SMS services, to online publications, ICT solutions developers to FinTech, mobile banking services, a whole internet-based gig economy of influencers and digital marketers, to even the now infamous online forex & crypto trading business that has seen Ugandans make or lose millions alike.
In 2009, the then-ICT Minister, Hon. Aggrey Awori launched the Seacom cable link allowing the internet service providers (ISPs) to upgrade their services to 4G and fibre optic broadband.
To “sweat the assets” like fibre-optic cables that the telecoms had so diligently invested in nationwide, they expanded their services to the banking industry, Pay TVs and more, spurred on by the digital migration process for radios & TVs mandated by UCC in 2015.
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ICT driving Public Sector gains
The government was not left out in the innovation and adoption of ICT. Policy changes and the adaptation to the ever-morphing world of ICT required a new cadre of dynamic civil servants, all under the umbrella of the Ministry of ICT & NG.
Its inception under the leadership of Dr Ham Mukasa Mulira, a seasoned ICT professional and executive director of Uganda Computer Service (now relabelled NITA- U), the ICT Ministry oversaw rapid change toward the government’s embracing of ICT solutions.
Key accomplishments of the young ministry have been the establishment of its constituent agencies UCC, Uganda Media Centre, UBC, Posta Uganda, and GCIC that has established the government’s online presence with 98% of government MDAs having websites and most notably NITA-U that has not only connected 420 government offices around the country with high-speed internet and leased lines but plans to
connect every district to a secure network for locally developed information systems that will greater enhance government’s ability to serve in this digital age through its e- Government portal. To date, NITA-U boasts of hosting 194 government applications owned by 132 entities on its “Unified Messaging and Collaboration System”, accessible via a nationwide National Backbone infrastructure.
With concrete policies in place and a “Digital Uganda” vision that seeks to review, integrate, consolidate, and improve all the existing ICT strategies, policies and plans into one overarching plan, the future of Uganda’s ICT landscape is promising if the government can continue with the pace it has set to support the ongoing efforts.
Innovating for self-reliance
Uganda has previously relied heavily on imported ICT solutions, both in software and hardware. In an effort for self-reliance in the ICT sector, and in the spirit of the current National Strategic Plan (Vision 2040), the ICT ministry in 2017 launched the National ICT Initiatives Support Program (NIISP) to foster an ecosystem and marketplace for digitally innovative products that enable local ICT developers, government MDAs and
business enterprises to innovate faster, reach new markets and compete at an international level.
The challenge is to grow the ICT sector to a point where it is contributing 40% of GDP by 2040 while acting as a multiplier for other sectors like agriculture, tourism, minerals, oil and gas, infrastructure development and human capital development.
With a young, internet-savvy population of Uganda increasingly becoming a digital one, with affordable smartphones, internet connectivity, and versatile payment solutions like mobile money and internet banking, the government has no choice but to keep up the
pace of this social media generation, with its thirst for easy-to-use, online services, accessed in their comfort and choosing.
According to UCC data, 13.9 Million Ugandans (30.9% of our population) currently have access to the internet, a 35% growth from pre-Covid internet-usage numbers. While these numbers are still predominantly within Greater Kampala (Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono districts) and the larger towns upcountry, they too reflect the areas with the greatest unemployment, a key economic (as well as security) concern for our youthful nation.
The days of standing in lines are over, now is the time for services online. And with Uganda’s ever-increasing indigenous ICT expertise and innovation, the present, and future of our nation are bright and immensely promising. We have but continue riding this wave of innovation and change in the ICT sector, steering our nation towards reaping its rewards
John Birungi Babirukamu is the General Manager at Hedge Marketing Ltd.
Twitter/LinkedIn/Facebook: @Babirukamu