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THE INTERNET IN AN AFRICAN LDC:
UGANDA CASE STUDY
January 2001
Michael Minges, Walter Brown and Tim Kelly wrote this report. Vanessa Gray
and Mark Woodall provided editorial comments. The layout, formatting and
production of the report was carried out by Nathalie Delmas. It is based on
field research undertaken 21 25 February 2000 as well as reports and
articles identified in the bibliography or as footnotes. We would like to thank
Brian Reaves (CelTel), Graham Mathews (MSI) and Charles Tibenderana (UCC)
for their valuable comments on the draft version of this report. We are par-
ticularly indebted to Dr. Godfrey Kibuuka, Commissioner Communications,
who greatly facilitated our research; to Charles Musisi of Uganda On Line,
who shared his frank and insightful views with us; to Daniel Stern of Uganda
Connect, who provided detailed comments; and to the others identified in
the Persons and Organizations met who took the time to answer our count-
less questions. The views expressed are those of the authors and may not
necessarily reflect the opinions of the International Telecommunication Un-
ion or its members or the Government of the Republic of Uganda. This is one
of a series of Internet diffusion case studies, which are being undertaken by
the ITU. More details can be found on the web site at
http://www.itu.int/ti/casestudies.
ii
Contents
1. Country background ............................................................... 1
1.1 Overview ............................................................................. 1
1.2 Demography ........................................................................ 1
1.3 Economy ............................................................................. 1
1.4 Human development ............................................................. 2
1.5 Political ............................................................................... 2
2. Information and communication technology status ............... 4
2.1 Telecommunication Sector ..................................................... 4
2.2 Regulation and policy-making ................................................ 7
2.3 Network ............................................................................ 11
2.4 International service ........................................................... 12
2.5 Information Technology Sector ............................................. 15
2.6 Mass media ....................................................................... 18
3. Internet strategy & policy .................................................... 21
3.1 Role of incumbent telecom operator in Internet ...................... 21
3.2 Pricing structure for Internet services ................................... 21
3.3 Regulatory status of Internet ............................................... 22
3.4 Universal access ................................................................. 23
4. Sector absorption ................................................................. 28
4.1 Government ...................................................................... 28
4.2 Health .............................................................................. 33
4.3 Education .......................................................................... 33
4.4 Business ........................................................................... 36
5. Conclusions .......................................................................... 41
5.1 State of the Internet in Uganda ............................................ 41
5.2 Strategies and recommendations ......................................... 43
Persons and organizations met ................................................ 47
Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................... 48
Bibliography ............................................................................. 49
Telecommunication tariffs ........................................................ 50
iii
Figures
1.1 Map of Uganda ..................................................................... 1
2.1 Industry structure of the Ugandan Telecommunications Sector ... 5
2.2 Evolution of the Ugandan network .......................................... 7
2.3 UTL's billed and actual revenue, 1999 ................................... 13
2.4 International traffic ............................................................. 13
2.5 Internet users in Uganda ..................................................... 17
2.6 Mass Media Online .............................................................. 19
3.1 Uganda's domain name ....................................................... 24
3.2 Public payphone shelter ...................................................... 25
4.1 Uganda Tourist Board Web site ............................................. 38
5.1 State of the Internet in Uganda ............................................ 41
Tables
1.1 Human Development Indicators ............................................. 2
2.1 Regional structure of telephone demand and UTL roll-out
obligations .......................................................................... 9
2.2 UTL's tariff structure ........................................................... 10
2.3 Telecom market indicators for Uganda ................................... 14
2.4 Personal computer market in Uganda .................................... 16
2.5 ISPs in Uganda .................................................................. 17
2.6 ISP international connectivity ............................................... 18
2.7 Broadcasting indicators ....................................................... 20
3.1 Internet access prices in Africa ............................................. 22
3.2 Internet licenses ................................................................ 23
3.3 Cybercafés in Kampala ........................................................ 25
4.1 Uganda government web sites ............................................. 29
4.2 Destination Uganda ............................................................ 39
5.1 Internet diffusion in Uganda ................................................ 42
Boxes
3.1 The Ugandan Telecentre experience ...................................... 26
4.1 Uganda Government Web Presence ...................................... 28
4.2 Digital Posts ...................................................................... 31
4.3 NADIC .............................................................................. 33
4.4 WorLD .............................................................................. 35
4.5 Training the trainers ........................................................... 36
iv
1. Country Background
1. Country background
1.1 Overview
other locations are classified as mu-
Located in Eastern Africa, the Repub- nicipalities, none of which has more
lic of Uganda is bordered by Sudan on than 100000 population. Around
the north, Kenya on the east, Tanza- 85 per cent of Ugandans reside in ru-
nia on the south, Rwanda on the ral areas.
southwest and the Democratic Repub-
lic of the Congo on the west. The capi- English was introduced during the co-
tal is Kampala. Administratively, the lonial period. Although it is the official
country is divided into four statistical language, it is not the first language
regions and 45 districts. Districts are of the vast majority of the population.
further divided into counties, sub- Indeed, it was estimated that only
counties, parishes and groups of vil- around one million people spoke Eng-
lages.
Figure 1.1: Map of Uganda
Although land-locked,
Uganda is in the Great
Lakes region of Africa with
some 15 per cent of its
surface area consisting of
water. A significant portion
of Lake Victoriathe larg-
est fresh water lake in Af-
rica and the source of the
river Nileis found in
Uganda territory. Other
large lakes include Lake
Edward, Lake Albert, Lake
Kyoga, and Lake George.
1.2 Demography
The last census was car-
ried out in 1991 when the
population of the country
was estimated at 16.7 mil-
lion. The latest estimate,
Source: The World Factbook.
for mid-year 1999, places
the size of the population
at 21.6 million. The popu- lish as a second language in 1977.1
lation growth rate during the 1990s Though that number has certainly
was 2.6 per cent per year. Uganda has risen, Ugandans primarily speak one
a young population with roughly half of the over 45 other dialects used in
its inhabitants under the age of 14. the country. Over 15 per cent of the
This is partly due to a life expectancy population speak Luganda, the most
of only around 40 years. widely spoken second language after
English.2
There are around 4.4 million house-
holds in the country with the average 1.3 Economy
household consisting of five people.
The largest city is Kampala with Ugandas 1998 Gross Domestic Prod-
890000 inhabitants, around 4.1 per uct (GDP) was US$ six billion or
cent of the population. About a dozen US$ 287 per capita, ranking it as one
1
Uganda Case Study
of the poorest countries in the world 1.4 Human development
and officially classifying it as a Least
Developed Country (LDC). Agriculture Uganda ranks 158 out of 174 coun-
contributes over 40 per cent of GDP tries in the United Nations Develop-
although its share has declined over ment Program (UNDP) Human
ten per cent since 1990. Manufactur- Development Index (HDI) and is cat-
ing and construction account for over egorized as being in the low human
15 per cent of the economy. Services development group. The HDI is a com-
add around one third to the economy posite of key indicators of well being
of which the communications sector including life expectancy, literacy,
(posts and telecommunications) share school enrolment and per capita GDP.
is 0.5 per cent. Uganda has been clas- Although Uganda rates favourably in
sified by the World Bank as a Heavily- some indicators compared to other
Indebted Poor Country, a process that African countries, its life expectancy
started in April 1997, which means is one of the lowest in the world. Some
that it is eligible for favourable con- human development indicators for
sideration with regard to debt relief. Uganda are shown in Table 1.1. It
In February 2000, the value of poten- should be noted that these are na-
tial debt relief available to Uganda was tional averages and there are signifi-
raised to US$ two billion.3 cant regional differences.
The country balance of payments has 1.5 Political
been in deficit for some years, with the
1998 figure estimated at some Uganda was widely considered to have
US$ 400 million. Imports are roughly among the most favourable develop-
twice the value of exports. The bulk of ment prospects of any African nation
Ugandas exports are agricultural prod- following independence from the
ucts. Its main export is coffee (55 per United Kingdom in 1962. This hope
cent of total export value). Tea, tobacco was shattered by a coup in Janu-
and fish are other traditional exports. ary 1971 led by Idi Amin. The coun-
Electric current is also exported, attest- try was embroiled in civil unrest during
ing to the countrys vast potential for Amins reign. Nationalist forces aided
hydroelectric energy. The relatively low by Tanzania toppled Amin and he fled
contribution of energy to total exports the country in April 1979. Soon after,
(2.2 per cent) is more a reflection of civil war broke out and finally ended
inexpensive prices offered to neighbour- with the leader of the National Resist-
ing countries rather than its true value. ance Army, Yoweri Museveni, selected
Ironically, Ugandas second largest im- as President in 1986. Museveni was
port is petroleum needed for its largest voted into office in May 1996 in the
import, road vehicles. Cereals and medi- first presidential election since inde-
cine are also major import products. pendence.
Table 1.1: Human Development Indicators
Uganda, 1997
Indicator Value Note
Life expectancy at birth 39.6 years Number of years a newborn infant will
live.
Adult literacy rate 64% Percentage 15 and older that can
read and write.
School enrolment ratio 40% Measures percentage of school age
population attending first, second and
third-level educational establishments.
GDP per capita (PPP$) 1'160 Measured in Purchasing Power
Parity (PPP), which adjusts for the
relative price levels.
Source: UNDP.
2
1. Country Background
In October 1995 a new constitution Uganda in terms of both Rwandan
was adopted. That same year, the refugees as well as guerrillas enter-
government restored the legal system ing Ugandan territory. In the north
to one based on English common law. of the country, rebels forming part
The National Assembly consists of of the Lords resistance Army, who
214 directly elected members and receive assistance from Sudan,
62 appointed ones. Representatives cause problems. Finally, Uganda is
serve for five years. Although politi- one of five African countries with
cal parties are allowed, they cannot troops in the Democratic Republic of
sponsor candidates. In a June 2000 the Congo. This open-ended military
referendum, Uganda voted to retain commitment is consuming resources
the party-less system. from development projects within
the country (for instance, the na-
Uganda has recently faced political tional census has been postponed)
tension with bordering countries. The and is making regional co-operation
civil war from Rwanda has affected more difficult.4
1
2
See the Ethnologue web site at http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/countries/Ugan.html.
3
For more on the Baganda and Luganda see http://www.buganda.com/buganda.htm.
4
See World Bank Press Release at http://www.worldbank.org/hipc/country-cases/uganda/uganda.html.
The government spends 20 per cent of its budget on defence compared to 13 per cent on education, 3 per
cent on health and less than two per cent on roads. See Functional Analysis of Uganda Central Government
Recurrent Expenditure in Uganda Bureau of Statistics. Statistical Abstract. July 1999.
3
Uganda Case Study
2. Information and communication technology status
2.1 Telecommunication Sector one per cent). This one per cent levy,
which is to be devoted to the Rural
2.1.1 Industry structure Communications Development Fund
(RCDF), has never been collected but
The Ministry of Works, Housing and the UCC plans to demand payment in
Communications (MOWHC) (http:// the very near future. The UCC also has
www.miniworks.go.ug) is the line min- significant real estate holdings that it
istry with responsibility for postal and inherited from the break-up of UPTC,
telecommunications matters, with the which presently finances an important
exception of broadcasting, which falls share of its operations.
under the Ministry of Information. The
Ministry grants major telecommuni- Uganda Communications Tribunal
cation licenses (i.e., facilities-based li- (UCT). The Communications Act calls
cences) and appoints three members for the establishment of UCT. The Tri-
of the Uganda Communications Com- bunal is to consist of three members
mission (UCC). Three other Commis- appointed by the President and is to be
sioners are nominated by the Uganda responsible for any disputes related to
Institute of Professional Engineers, the communications services. It can issue
Uganda Law Society and the Broadcast- decisions with the powers of a high
ing Council. Once the six Commission- court. These decisions can be chal-
ers have been appointed, they nominate lenged in the countrys Court of Appeal.
the seventh Commissioner, who be- The members have not been appointed
comes the Executive Director. as of February 2000, nor are there pres-
ently any outstanding disputes that
The Uganda Communications Com- would merit its intervention at this time.
mission (UCC) (http://www.ucc.co
.ug) is the national communications The sector itself comprises a Govern-
regulator. It was created from the re- ment owned postal services provider,
organization of the Uganda Posts and Uganda Posts Limited, a telecommuni-
Telecommunication Corporation cations network provider undergoing
(UPTC) as a result of the 1997 Uganda partial privatization, Uganda Telecom
Communications Act. The Commission Limited (UTL), and several private net-
consists of seven members (Commis- work and service providers providing
sioners) including the Executive Di- fixed line and mobile telephony, and
rector, in addition to support staff Internet services. The most significant
(numbering around 20 in February of these is the Second Network Opera-
2000). The Commissioners were ap- tor (SNO), MTN-Uganda, which gained
pointed in September 1998 and the its license via an open competitive ten-
Executive Director was appointed in der in 1998. The structure of the sector
December 1999. While radio and tele- is shown in Figure 2.1.
vision broadcasting fall under the Min-
istry of Information, technical aspects 2.1.2 Industry players
such as frequency assignment, are the
responsibility of UCC. The UCC also Until 1994, all telecommunication
issues minor telecommunication li- services were provided by the Uganda
censes for activities such as paging, Posts and Telecommunications Corpo-
Internet service and private telecom- ration (UPTC), the wholly government
munication services. The UCC is owned telecommunications service
funded from spectrum fees, grants provider. Since then, the telecommu-
from government and other approved nications sector has been progres-
sources, and a share of revenues from sively liberalized. Two fixed line
licensed operators (currently set at telephone network operators and three
4
2. Information and communication technology status
mobile telecommunication network op- provided only fixed line telecommuni-
erators have been licensed. By the end cation services. Nevertheless, it is pre-
of 1999, the following network provid- paring itself for competition in all other
ers and operators were competing for services through a partnership with
market share in Uganda: external strategic investors. Of par-
ticular note is UTLs interest in the
Uganda Telecommunications Limi- Internet where a market study was
ted (UTL). UTL is the successor of commissioned from ITU in autumn
UPTC after the separation of postal 1999. UTL has developed a compre-
from telecommunications functions. hensive business plan for the intro-
UTL was incorporated in February duction of Internet networks and
1998 and is licensed to provide all tele- services throughout the country, and
communication servicesincluding has the mandate to use these serv-
fixed line, mobile, and data/Internet. ices for the provision of packet
However, up to the end of 1999, UTL switched voice and data services.
Figure 2.1: Industry structure of the Ugandan Telecommunications Sector
Government of
Uganda
Ministry of Works,
Transport & Communications
(MWTC)
Uganda Communications
Commission (UCC)
Inter-
Second Network
Uganda Telecom Ltd connect
Operator:
(UTL)
MTN-Uganda Ltd
Minor License Minor License Minor License
holders holders holders
CONSUMERS
Note: Celtel is regarded as a minor license holder.
Source: Government of Uganda, Privatization of Uganda Telecom, Information Memorandum.
5
Uganda Case Study
UTLs recently established partnership work coverage expansion and Internet
with Detecon of Germany and Telecel plans, Celtel has embarked on the roll
International, an outcome of the pri- out of a national 16x2Mbit/s microwave
vatization process (see section 2.2.2), backbone, along the same physical
is expected to result in rapid expan- route as UTL and MTN. Celtel has plans
sion and development of Internet and for international Internet connectivity
mobile telephony services, in addition via a VSAT link-up to Intelsat and to
to the traditional fixed line networks.5 connect remote rural customers via
domestic VSAT networks. Unlike MTN
Celtel Uganda (http://www.nic .ug/ or UTL, Celtel does not have an inter-
CelTel). Celtel was the first private national voice license nor does it have
telecommunication operator to be li- network roll-out obligations.
censed in Uganda in October 1994
after the decision to liberalize the tel- MTN Uganda. MTN (http://www.mtn
ecommunication sector. It launched .co.ug) was granted a so-called Sec-
the countrys first mobile cellular serv- ond National Operators license in April
ice in May 1995 using the GSM digital 1998. The license essentially covers any
system. Celtels shareholders were: telecommunication service that MTN
wants to provide including fixed, mo-
· Mobile Systems International bile, long-distance and Internet. It paid
(MSI)-Cellular (42%), an Am- US$ 5.8 million for the license and is
sterdam-headquartered cellular obliged to install 89000 lines within five
investment company years (this apparently includes mobile
(http://www.msi-cellular. com); cellular subscribers). MTN launched its
wireless network in October 1998. Al-
· Vodafone Airtouch (37%), UK- though fixed wireless has been avail-
based and one of the worlds larg- able since the latter quarter of 1999,
est mobile cellular operators most customers have opted for the
(http://www. vodafone-airtouch- mobile service, and most of them have
plc.com); taken the pre-paid option. The tele-
phone for fixed-cellular, provided by Sie-
· International Finance Corporation mens, at around US$ 700 each, is much
(IFC) (10.5%), the World Banks more expensive than the equivalent
private sector development arm6 mobile handsets, which are often bun-
(http://www.ifc.org); and dled with the price of a subscription,
and for which there is already a vibrant
· Commonwealth Development second-hand market. Consequently, the
Corporation (CDC) (10.5%), the number of fixed-cellular subscribers by
UKs overseas development February 2000 was still under 200. By
agency (http://www.cdc.co.uk). contrast, by the end of 1999, MTN al-
ready had over 60000 mobile cellular
MSI has acquired Vodafone Airtouchs subscribers, making it the largest
and CDCs shareholding and now has telecommuni-cation service provider in
overall management control. Celtels the country. In just two years from its
mobile network has grown to 22000 us- introduction, MTNs customer base has
ers, 77 per cent of which are prepaid exceeded UTLs fixed line capacity and
(17000). However, since the introduc- has overtaken Celtel, its mobile te-
tion of competition in the mobile te- lephony competitor, by a wide margin.
lephony sector, Celtels growth has been It has also succeeded in rolling out its
limited. Subsequently, the company has network to all 46 main cities in the coun-
developed new growth strategies and try, reaching parts of the country, which
plans to increase its capacity and cov- are not currently served with fixed-line
erage significantly. This growth strat- access.
egy includes entering the Internet
market, and various new service offer- Although MTN focused its early roll out
ings such as free voice mail.7 Celtels strategy on the lucrative mobile te-
lead foreign partner, MSI, has an- lephony market, it is now giving in-
nounced a strategy for Africa-wide creased attention to the business
Internet development. To meet its net- market. MTNs solution is to use point-
6
2. Information and communication technology status
Figure 2.2: Evolution of the Ugandan network
By communication service, and by comparison with East African neighbours, 1995-99
Uryrurà 150 0.8 1.2
`rh
Ãrqvtà Kenya
ip
vir
Ã
" Ã9rprir
0.6 q
r
1.0
Vthqhà 100
v
s
Ã
0.4 0.8
Ã
r
y
v
8JDQGD
50 i Tanzania
0.2
0.6
Ã
0 0
Malaw i
v
0.4
’95 ’96 ’97 ’98 ’99
r
q
Mobile 2 4 7 26 87 r
y 0.2
r
F ixed 39 46 54 57 59 U
0.21 0.25 0.29 0.39 0.67 0.0
P enetration
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database.
to-point microwave radio to provide munications Act, approved by Parlia-
an ISDN primary rate wireless inter- ment in August 1997:
face to buildings and businesses within
line of site of its transmitters in the · Restructuring Uganda Posts and
Kampala area. These customers can Telecommunications Corporation
then provide local wiring for end us- (UPTC). Uganda Telecom was
ers who include Internet and fax us- split off from UPTC and incorpo-
ers as well as telephone users. Initial rated in February 1998.
customers include computer distribu-
tors, hotels and trading companies. · Creation of an independent tel-
MTN Ugandas ownership structure is ecommunication regulator. The
the following: Uganda Communications Com-
mission (UCC) was established in
· Mobile Telephone Networks 1997 as a result of the Communi-
(MTN) (50%). The South African cations Act. Its executive direc-
mobile operator also has cellular tor is Patrick Masambu, formerly
investments in Cameroon, with UTL.
Rwanda and Swaziland;
· Introduction of competition. A
· Telia (30%), Swedens incumbent private company, Celtel, obtained
telecommunication operator; a license for mobile cellular in
1994. A full-fledged Second Na-
· Invesco (10%), a Ugandan com- tional Operator (SNO) license
pany; and was awarded to MTN Uganda in
1998. The SNO license allows any
· Tristar (10%), a Rwandan com- telecommunication service to be
pany. provided. All non-basic telecom
services are open to competition.
2.2 Regulation and policy- According to the Uganda Com-
making munications Act, UTL and the
second network operator are to
2.2.1 Market liberalization
be awarded a period of protec-
The government has embarked on a tion from further full-service
four-part strategy of liberalization in competition (in particular, for in-
the telecom sector. Much of this strat- ternational service) for a period
egy is outlined in the Uganda Com- of five years. This five year ex-
7
Uganda Case Study
clusivity period began in cently been paid for mobile licences in
June 2000 and will run until countries close to Uganda, it is likely
2005. that the price of the mobile license
alone would have been close to the
· Privatization of incumbent opera- entire price paid for UTL. In other
tor. See below. words, the price paid for UTLs fixed
line network and assets is very low and
2.2.2 Privatization might even be negative. The delay in
The privatization process in Ugandas concluding the sale has allowed MTN
telecom sector commenced in Octo- to become the largest operator in the
ber 1994 with the licensing of Celtel, country and has arguably delayed UTLs
a private company, to provide mobile own plans to enter the mobile and ISP
cellular service. This was followed by markets. It would appear to be the case
the issuance of the SNO license to MTN that this has resulted in a much lower
Uganda in 1998. The sale to a strate- price for UTL than could have been ob-
gic investor of a majority of shares in tained a year or so ago.
the incumbent fixed-line operator, UTL
was intended to be an early part of Nevertheless, it should be taken into
the process. However, this was de- account that, in acquiring UTL, the con-
layed for various legal and operational sortium has also taken on considerable
reasons. Initial talks with Telekom debts and pension liabilities (including
Malaysia broke down following the staff of the former UPTC). UTLs debts,
Asian financial crisis while a later at- as of 31 March 1999 amounted to some
tempt to involve WorldTel proved abor- Ushs 47.0 billion (US$ 31.4 million).
tive. Consequently, Uganda was, until This includes interest payable on loans
recently, in the unusual position of hav- from, inter alia:
ing introduced competition, including
international services, before it had pri- · the World Bank (via IDA) for
vatized the incumbent operator. loans granted in 1987 and 1990;
After two false starts, an agreement to · the French government;
sell was finally announced in February
2000, following a competitive bidding · the African Development Bank;
process. The process was concluded in
June 2000. Some 51 per cent of UTL · the government of the Republic
were sold to the international UCOM of Korea.
consortium for US$ 33.5 million. 8
Telecel International, the Pan-African UTLs cash flow in the 13 months to
mobile cellular operator, heads UCOM 31 March 1999 was Ushs 15.9 billion
with 80 per cent, with the remaining (US$ 10.6 million), which was more
20 per cent held by Detecon (http:// or less equivalent to the annual inter-
www.detecon.de/index_en.html), the est payable on loans, leaving UTL in a
international consulting subsidiary of poor position to meet its other liabili-
Germanys incumbent telecom opera- ties and to invest in network roll-out.
tor, Deutsche Telekom (http://
www.telekom.de/english/index.htm). 2.2.3 Universal service and
quality of service obliga-
The sale price values UTL at tions
US$ 65.7 million, or just over In acquiring the majority shareholding
US$ 1000 per subscriber line. Given in UTL, the Detecon-led consortium
that the revenue per subscriber in 1999 has also taken on a number of obliga-
was some US$ 870, this sum repre- tions with regard to future network
sents just over one years revenue. roll-out during the period of duopoly.
However, it is perhaps more relevant In particular, the operator must roll-
to consider what would have been the out some 100000 new lines within the
price if the consortium had been bid- five year period of which 30000 sub-
ding only for the mobile license (with scriber lines and 3000 payphones
international gateway) that UTL holds. must be within specified regions (see
Judging by the prices, which have re- Table 2.1). The remaining 67000 lines
8
2. Information and communication technology status
can be distributed according to de- · Major licenses. These are issued
mand. directly by the Ministry, on the
advice of the UCC. They cover the
In addition, UTL will take on quality of main facilities-based carriers in the
service obligations for nine specified fields of fixed and mobile telecom-
indicators. Those indicators relevant munication services, long-distance
to Internet service provision include and leased lines capacity resale,
the following targets: satellite services and third party
private network services.
· to increase local call completion
rate to over 85 per cent within · Minor licenses. These are
five years (the existing level is granted directly by the UCC and
35 per cent); mainly cover non-facilities based
services (such as messaging,
· to fix 85 per cent of faults within value-added services, private
24 hours and 90 per cent within telecommunications services,
72 hours; equipment sale and leasing) as
well as facilities-based networks
· to achieve 95 per cent network for paging, telex, telegraph etc.
digitization; and Although it is not specifically
stated in the Act, Internet Serv-
· to ensure a maximum connection ice Provision comes under the
time of ten days of request within category of minor licenses and
urban areas. some eight ISP licenses had been
awarded as of February 2000 of
2.2.4 Licensing which four were already active.
One of the major changes introduced
by the 1997 Communications Act is Licensees are to contribute one per
the licensing regime for telecommu- cent of their annual revenues to the
nication operators and service provid- UCC. It is intended that these fees
ers, which is administered by the UCC. should eventually be used as the ba-
One of the principal functions of the sis for the Rural Communications De-
UCC is to monitor, inspect, license and velopment Fund (RCDF). The UCC also
regulate telecommunications in the manages licenses for radio frequency
country. The licensing regime recog- use. The market for private radio sta-
nizes two broad types of license: tions is particularly active.
Table 2.1: Regional structure of telephone demand and UTL roll-out obligations
Existing distribution at 31/3/99 and regional roll-out obligations to 2005
Region Subscriber Public Teledensity, Roll-out Roll-out
lines, payphones, at 31/3/99 obligation, obligation,
subscriber lines payphones
Kampala 36472 565 1.86% 10000 1000
Central 3920 162 0.1% 5000 500
Eastern 4560 106 0.09% 6000 600
Northern 824 7 0.02% 3000 300
Western 6053 194 0.11% 6000 600
National total 51829 1034 0.26% 30000 * 3000
Note: * These figures do not include a further 67000 lines to be installed by 2005 according to the
distribution of demand.
Source: Government of Uganda, Privatization of Uganda Telecom, Information Memorandum.
9
Uganda Case Study
2.2.5 Tariff rebalancing · A national dialing code for local
Uganda is in a relatively unusual po- rate access to the Internet. Some
sition relative to other African coun- 15 different African countries
tries in that the process of tariff currently have national dialing
rebalancing began early. Now, UTLs codes9 . The lack of one in Uganda
tariffs for international calls are among means that the price of access
the lowest in Africa and its settlement for long-distance dial-up is
rate with the United States (US$ 0.25 US$ 8 per hour;
per minute at May 2000) is the low-
est. However, UTLs local call tariffs are · A premium rate access number
among the highest in Africa. The ratio for Internet whereby the costs of
between local and long distance calls Internet access are bundled into
is 1:2.5 (1:10 or more is common in the cost of a local call. In Egypt,
Africa). Table 2.2 summarizes the where this service was intro-
main rates in force. duced in December 1999, it is
already realizing more than a mil-
While the moves towards tariff lion dollars per month in rev-
rebalancing are to be applauded, the enues, shared between the
unintended side effect is that dial-up participating ISPs and Telecom
Internet usage is not as high as it would Egypt. ISPs in Uganda have re-
be if the local call charge was lower. quested such a facility but UTL
However, the main problem here is not has not yet delivered it.
so much the high initial charge
(Five US cents per minute), but rather 2.2.6 Interconnection
that there are no internet-friendly tar- Since the number of mobilephones in
iffs that might allow, for instance: Uganda overtook the number of fixed-
lines, in the second half of 1999, the
· Untimed local call access after a issue of mobile/fixed interconnection
certain length of time (e.g., af- has become more significant. How-
ter 15 minutes). Instead, the ever, the stakes have shifted consid-
price of using the Internet for erably. While UTL was still the
local call-dial-up is US$ 3 per dominant operator, it could afford to
hour (peak time); charge relatively high prices for calls
Table 2.2: UTL's tariff structure
February 2000, in Ugandan Shillings and US cents per minute
Tariff In Ugandan Shillings In US$
Fixed charges (business & residential)
· Connection fee 170000 113.33
· Subscription 10000 per month 6.67
Local calls:
· Peak rate 75 per minute 0.05
· Economy (8pm 6 am) 45 per minute 0.03
· Super-economy 25 per minute 0.017
(2 pm sat 8am Mon)
National long-distance rate 200 per minute 0.13
International calls:
· East Africa 1500 per minute 1.00
· Other intl 1800, 2000 or 1.20, 1.33 or 1.53
2300 per minute
Source: UTL.
10
2. Information and communication technology status
terminated on its network. Now that SMS messages to mobile subscribers.
it is not the dominant operator, a sig- However, it is expected that these will
nificant and rising proportion of UTL- come as mobile Internet applications
billed calls now go to Celtel or MTN enter the market.
mobile subscribers. Thus, whereas
UTL originally had a motivation to seek The regulatory framework for inter-
high interconnect rates, it is now seek- connection is based on contracts be-
ing much lower ones. tween operators, which should be
based on principles of neutrality, non-
In the eight months to May 1999, discrimination and equality of access.
UTLs outgoing traffic to MTN was All interconnect agreements are sub-
9.2 million minutes and its incoming ject to review and approval by the
traffic was 4.5 million minutes. How- regulatory, the UCC, after a five-year
ever, for much of that period, MTN had period. All interconnect disputes
fewer than 20000 subscribers. It is should be arbitrated by a Commission
likely that the interconnect flows af- established by the UCC.
ter May 1999 were much higher, with
an increasing share of total traffic be- 2.3 Network
ing between MTN subscribers.
2.3.1 Backbone network
The original interconnect arrangement A Master Plan for the Ugandan net-
was negotiated between Celtel and work was developed in 1993 under a
UTL and foresaw interconnect rates at contract funded by NTT, Japan. This
500 Ush per minute for termination was updated in the form of a demand
of calls on Celtels network (mobile) forecast, carried out in 1997 by a con-
and 300 Ush per minute for terminat- sultant and funded by the ITU. This is
ing on UTLs network (fixed). These still used, though it has been over-
high rates are one reason why Celtels taken by events, in particular the rapid
original attempts to popularize mobile expansion of mobile communications.
in Uganda were not successful.
UTLs switching network comprises
MTNs entry into the market changed 17 digital, 26 analogue and 62
the situation radically. It offered UTL manual exchanges. In general, Kam-
a termination rate for calls on the pala is well served with modern, dig-
mobile network of just 350 Ush per ital equipment, but the rest of the
minute and agreed to pay UTL 150 Ush country is not so fortunate and parts
for calls terminating on the fixed net- of the network are obsolete. Mod-
work. With these low prices in place, ernization of the network has de-
it was able to offer considerably re- pended on grants and loans from
duced prices to consumers. MTNs ini- foreign partners, including from the
tial efforts to negotiate a low rate of Korean and Belgian governments.
interconnect with Celtel for mobile to For instance, the Belgian government
mobile calls was rejected and a rate is funding a US$ 4.5 million project
of Ush 210 per minute was estab- to establish a 3000 line exchange in
lished. However, this was subse- Gulu and an SDH microwave link
quently reduced and Celtel is now between Gulu and Kampala. How-
negotiating a lower interconnect rate ever, one problem with such donor-
with UTL, too, as part of its efforts to funded projects is that they are
relaunch its service. As from frequently awarded at above-market
1 March 2000, Celtels new intercon- prices and the beneficiary is often
nect rates are 160 Ush per minute for locked into expensive maintenance
calls to and from the fixed network. contracts once the initial installation
is implemented.
For the moment, there are no specific
interconnect rates for mobile access Around 90 per cent of subscribers are
to Internet-based services, for in- connected to automatic exchanges.
stance to develop WAP (Wireless Ap- Some fibre is deployed in the back-
plication Protocols) services or to bone network, specifically between
encourage use of the Internet to send Kampala and Entebbe but the major-
11
Uganda Case Study
ity of the backbone network is pro- tween availability of capacity and
vided by microwave links. Interna- location of demand. Thus, while the
tional connectivity is provided available line capacity at the end of
principally by a satellite earth station 1999 was just over 85000 lines,
at Mpoma, near Kampala. fewer than 60000 lines, or 70 per
cent of capacity, had actually been
UTL is involved in an East-African installed. The available unused ca-
project for co-operation on the crea- pacity is more than twice the size of
tion of a digital transmission network. the waiting list. Capacity utilization
The project was signed on is highest in Kampala (>80%) and
29 April 1997 and tender notices were lowest in Central, Eastern and North-
issued in July 1999. UTLs contribu- ern regions (around 40%). A second
tion to the US$ 57 million project is problem plaguing UTL has been un-
some US$ 13 million. The project may paid bills and difficulties over debt
have a higher chance of success if recovery, including from government
Detecon succeeds in the Tanzania departments. The pre-paid systems
Telecom privatization process. used by the cellular operators largely
avoid this problem.
MTNs backbone network, which is also
based principally around SDH micro- 2.4 International service
wave links, has the advantage of be-
ing much more modern and 2.4.1 International traffic
homogeneous than UTLs network and Like many other developing coun-
is also more easily upgradeable, given tries, Uganda is heavily dependent
its modular design and MTNs easier upon revenues from international
access to financial resources. It is also telecommunications. However, the
being extended more rapidly into sec- level of dependency is relatively low
ondary cities and rural areas of compared with that of other coun-
Uganda. There are provisions for shar- tries reviewed in the ITU/CTO/
ing of resources (e.g., high sites) but InfoDev country case studies series
apparently little enthusiasm to do so (see http://www.itu.int/wtpf/cases/
on the part of either UTL or MTN. Also, Uganda/index.htm). Indeed, the
MTN recently launched an optical fi- overall level of revenue from inter-
bre network. national markets was just over
ten per cent of UTLs total revenue
2.3.2 Rural access (Figure 2.3).
Rural access is limited both by a lack
of investment and by the fact that There are a number of reasons why
parts of the network were destroyed UTL gains so little from international
during the civil unrest of the 1970s services:
and 1980s. While the network in the
area around Entebbe and Kampala has · UTLs overall inefficiency in col-
benefited from World Bank funded in- lecting and retaining revenues.
vestment, the rural network has gen- For instance, out of the
erally been left to deteriorate. The one US$ 75 million that was billed by
exception to this is the Gulu project UTL in the last financial accounts,
noted above. World Bank and Nordic some 40 per cent were lost as a
Development Funds are available for provision for bad debt and a fur-
a second phase of this project. How- ther 34 per cent were lost due to
ever, it is likely that wireless commu- audit adjustments.
nication, both fixed and mobile, may
provide a more viable prospect than · Billing inefficiencies mean that
copper-based solutions for rural areas. much traffic goes unrecorded. For
It would also be advisable to allow instance, UTL reports only
other network operators than just UTL 4.4 million minutes of traffic
to bid to use the donor funds. coming from the US during 1998
whereas the FCC reports a total
One major problem which UTL has of 10.6 million minutes from US
suffered from is the mismatch be- carriers.
12
2. Information and communication technology status
Figure 2.3: UTL's billed and actual revenue, 1999
For 13 months, ending 31 March 1999
Other, 4.9%
Leased lines, 6.3%
6phyÃ
Telex, 4.6%
ph uÃ
Q
v vÃ
sy Ã!$È
s
ÃihqÃ
Dr
h
qr i Ã# È
vhyà &È
9 r vpÃ
6qvÃ
QTUIÃ
hqw r Ã
r
vpr Ã
"#È
&"$È
UhyÃV uÃ&#Ãivyyv
UhyÃV uà !Ãivyyv
ÃVTÇ#(#Ã vyyvÃhsr
ÃhqvÃhqw r Ã
ÃVTÇ&#%Ã vyyv
Source: UTL audit report and financial statements.
· UTL is a net payer to many de- · There is strong evidence for refile
veloped countries, including UK, of traffic via third countries. For
Germany and Sweden. This liabil- instance, incoming traffic from
ity is mainly due to transit Canada, a major refile hub, rose
charges where UTL is paying well by 315 per cent in 1998 while
above market rates, perhaps due traffic from the UK fell by 175 per
to commercial naivety or perhaps cent. The fact that Uganda has
due to the fact that it is locked traditionally been part of a
into multi-year contracts. sender-keeps-all agreement with
Figure 2.4: International traffic
Uganda's international traffic, 1990-98, and major traffic partners, 1998
VthqhÃvyÃ
hssvp , in minutes (thousands)
Other
25’000
India
Vthqh à hw
Ã
Germany
20’000 vr
hvhyÃ
hssvpÃ
Incoming, to Uganda Japan h
r
in thousands of
minutes, 1998
15’000 Sw itzerland
Italy
Out, from Uganda
10’000 South Africa
Outgoing, to Uganda
In, to Uganda
Canada
5’000
UK
US
0
1990 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 0 2’000 4’000 6’000 8’000 10’000
Note: Excludes traffic with neighbouring East African countries which is outside the accounting rate system.
Source: ITU/TeleGeography Inc "Direction of Traffic Database".
13
Uganda Case Study
Table 2.3: Telecom market indicators for Uganda
Years ending 30 June
Unit 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
TELEPHONE NETWORK
Main telephone lines 27886 28405 30047 20770 30449 38972 47927 54074 56919 57091
- Per 100 inhabitants 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.12 0.16 0.20 0.24 0.27 0.28 0.27
% digital main lines 1/ ... 59.7 42.2 60.6 68.0 64.2 75.2 75.6 90.6 90.9
Public payphones 1/ 2/ ... ... 314 354 378 693 799 1158 1333 1380
Waiting list 1/ 3/ 15675 20373 6233 2568 2430 4554 6277 8092 8954 9161
MOBILE SERVICES
Cellular mobile subscribers 1747 4000 5000 30000 56358
- Per 100 inhabitants 0.01 0.02 0.02 0.15 0.27
TRAFFIC (Millions of minutes)
Total national ... ... ... ... ... ... 215.7 239.3 263.8 ...
- Local ... ... ... ... ... ... 168.0 187.6 195.7 ...
- National long distance ... ... ... ... ... ... 47.7 51.7 68.1 ...
International bothway 4/ 6.8 7.1 8.5 9.6 13.9 17.2 19.5 20.7 24.3 25.2
-International outgoing 4/ 3.9 3.8 3.5 2.7 3.5 4.9 5.8 6.3 6.4 6.3
- International incoming 4/ 2.8 3.3 5.0 6.9 10.4 12.3 13.7 14.4 17.9 18.9
STAFF
Full-time telecom staff 5/ 2215 1221 1247 1246 1219 1324 1348 1399 1400 1672
QUALITY OF SERVICE
Faults per 100 main lines
per year ... ... ... 380.0 100.0 120.0 110.0 80.0 80.0 ...
TELPHONE TARIFFS (National currency, including taxes)
Connection ... ... 21250 21250 125000 138000 138000 170000 170000 170000
Monthly fee ... ... 800 800 1500 6000 6000 19000 10000 10000
3 minute local call (peak rate) ... ... 50 50 50 200 200 ... 225 225
REVENUE (National currency, billions of Uganda shillings)
Total telecom services revenue 6/12.4 21.5 33.4 32.8 40.7 47.8 45. 4 61.7 74.4 126.7
- Telephone service revenue 11.1 20.4 31.5 31.5 37.2 37.2 43.9 25.8 28.5
CAPITAL EXPENDITURE (National currency, billions of Uganda shillings)
Annual telecom investment 7/ 3.0 11.6 14.2 11.8 9.2 22.4 30.4 26.6 22.3 80.3
Source: Uganda Telecommunications Ltd. (UTL).
Note: 1/ 1999 at August. 2/ UTL only. 3/ Excluding suppressed demand. 4/ Not including traffic with Kenya
or Tanzania. UTL only. 5/ 1990 including postal staff. 1991-1997 telecom only staff of former Uganda Posts
& Telecom Corporation. 1998 estimate of UTL staff. 1999 staff of UTL (1430), CelTel (107) and MTN (125).
6/ 1997-1999 includes UTL annualized revenue. 1998-99 includes estimates from mobile cellular services.
7/ Including estimated investment in mobile cellular for 1998-99.
neighbouring East African coun- per minute since 1998, which is
tries makes it particularly vulner- close to the FCCs benchmark
able to sudden shifts in traffic. rate of 23 US cents per minute
for low income countries. By con-
· UTLs net settlement from the trast, Kenyas settlement rate is
United States in calendar 55 US cents per minute.
year 1998 amounted to only
US$ 2.3 million after accounting The lack of revenue gained from in-
for transit fees. By comparison, ternational services is one reason why
Kenya gained over US$ 13 mil- UTL has been unable to expand its
lion. Ugandas settlement rate network at a faster rate. Funds for
with the US has been 25 US cents investment have been falling (in 1999,
14
2. Information and communication technology status
for instance, only US$ 1.6 million was 2.5 Information Technology
invested by UTL, which is only one Sector
tenth as much as in previous years).
A further reason for the poor invest- This section identifies organizations in-
ment record is the uncertainty sur- volved in the Information Technology
rounding the stop-go privatization (IT) sector, summarizes the computer
process. hardware market, and examines
Internet service provision. No single
2.4.2 IP Telephony government ministry or agency appears
to have been designated the lead
ISPs are not allowed to provide Voice
agency for IT in the country. Several
over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services.
are involved in IT-related areas with
VoIP is not illegal per se but ISPs are
very little coordination. Government
not allowed to provide voice services,
ministries with a role in IT include the
which remain the exclusive monopoly
MWTC and MOI (yet ironically neither
of the two full-service operators, UTL
even has a web site!). The former pro-
and MTN. The restriction against VoIP
vides oversight for the telecommunica-
is outlined in the ISP license. Other
tion and postal sectors, while the latter
voice-related services such as Fax Mail
performs the same duty for the mass
are, however, allowed.
media and broadcasting sectors. The
Uganda Investment Authority
UTLs lack of dependency on revenue
(http://www. ugandainvest .com), the
from international services puts it in
Uganda National Council for Science and
a relatively stronger position than
Technology (http://www.uncst. go.ug),
other African PTOs with regard to the
and the Institute of Computer Science
possible threats from IP Telephony.
at Makerere University (http://www.
The main opportunity for IP Telephony
muk.ac.ug/faculty/compsc~1/
in countries such as Uganda is for ter-
index.html) are also involved in IT.10
mination of incoming calls. The gap
between the official settlement rate
(25 US cents per minute) and the un- IT user-based organizations in the coun-
official rate offered on telecom min- try include the Uganda Computer Soci-
utes exchanges (19 US cents per ety, which arranges the annual AITEC
minute is offered at www.arbinet.com) computer show each April. Another IT-
is relatively small compared with related organization is the local chap-
Ugandas neighbours (in Kenya, the ter of the Internet Society (Uganda
gap is between 55 US cents official ISOC) (http://www.isoc.or. ug).
and 34 US cents unofficial). Thus the
scope for price arbitrage is limited. 2.5.1 Computer market
There are limited data on the Ugan-
On the other hand, because Uganda dan computer market. There are sta-
is more open than its neighbours to tistics available for the yearly value of
incoming Internet traffic (the VSAT imports of office machines and auto-
data market is liberalized, for in- matic data processing machines (see
stance) there is more scope for bring- Table 2.4). There is no breakdown by
ing IP voice traffic in. The official units or disaggregation of personal
situation is that only two operators, computers (PCs). There is no domes-
UTL and MTN, are licensed to use IP tic production of computers and lim-
Telephony though neither claims they ited assembly and import duties have
are actually doing so (indeed, they been reduced to zero. There are
appeared unaware when interviewed roughly a dozen shops selling per-
that they were able to provide IP Te- sonal computers and other office
lephony). No ISPs admit to using IP equipment in Kampala. According to
Telephony, though they are ru- one vendor, there were around
moured to be franchisees for 30000 PCs sold in the country in
Net2Phone, a subsidiary of AT&T, 1999. It is widely believed that sales
who are active in the country. The of PCs have increased sharply over
UCC has not taken an aggressive the last few years as a result of
stance against IP Telephony, unlike preparation for the Year 2000 prob-
regulators in other African countries. lem and increased Internet activity.
15
Uganda Case Study
Table 2.4: Personal computer market in Uganda
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Office machines & ADP imports ($m) 19.5 13.8 11.5 11.2 18.4 n.a.
Estimated PC sales (units) 9000 7000 7000 8000 15000 30000
Estimated stock of PCs 15000 24000 31000 38000 45000 60000
PCs per 100 inhabitants 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.19 0.22 0.28
Source: ITU estimates. Data on office machines and automatic data-processing machine imports are
from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.
We guesstimate that there were Internet Cafés, providing drop in
around 60000 PCs in the country at Internet and e-mail services mainly to
the end of 1999, based on rough deri- foreign tourists, international staff on
vations of import data and 1999 unit short term assignment to Uganda and
sales estimates. This results in a PC local students. These Internet Cafés
penetration of 0.28 per 100 people, provide a useful public service and a
placing Uganda roughly between valuable contribution to the growing
neighbours Tanzania (0.19) and Kenya awareness of the power and useful-
(0.43). Almost ten per cent of Ugan- ness of ICT. One factor that limits
dan PCs are connected to the Internet. Internet and e-mail usage in Uganda
is the limited availability and
2.5.2 The Internet market affordability of computers; nonethe-
less, it is anticipated that Internet
The history of the Internet in Uganda services will experience very high
dates back to April 1993 with refer- growth in the near future.
ences to a Fidonet node at Makerere
University. Limited commercial e-mail The number of Internet subscribers
services became available in Au- was around 4100 at the end of 1999.
gust 1994 and the first host using the There have been no surveys regard-
.ug (Uganda) domain name was de- ing the number of Internet users by
tected in July 1995. By October 1995, either the national statistical agency
several organizations were offering or market research firms. Existing
Internet connectivity. For example, the estimates vary tremendously. A
MUKLA (Makerere University Kampala) March 1999 report pegged the number
Internet Service was providing e-mail of Internet users at 15000.12 A news
for students and faculty. In addition, article cites a study by the United
StarLight Communications and Nations Industrial Development Or-
Infomail were providing Internet ac- ganization (UNIDO) claiming there
cess, while Transmail and InfomaNet were 10000 users in Kampala in Au-
were providing e-mail services. gust 1999 and that this figure had
risen to 40000 by November 1999.13
The 1997 Uganda Communications Act A more probable figure, based on vari-
introduced a licensing regime for ous interviews and estimates of the
Internet services. As of Febru- number of users per subscription, sug-
ary 2000, UCC had issued eight gests that there were around
Internet Access Service licenses. 25000 Internet users in Uganda at the
However, only two can be considered beginning of 2000. This estimate in-
to be providing significant public cludes regular and casual e-mail-only
Internet and email services (see Ta- users. Growth during 1999 appears to
ble 2.5).11 Two small ISPs concentrate have been high. One cyber-café, which
on niche markets, while most licensed opened in March 1999, claims to have
ISPs have yet to begin operations. doubled the number of PCs in the es-
There are a growing number of tablishment in less than a year.
16
2. Information and communication technology status
Table 2.5: ISPs in Uganda
Licensed ISPs, February 2000
Name Subscribers Web site
(12/99)
1 Infocom a, c 2650 imul.com
2 Swift Global a, d 1360 www.swiftuganda.com
3 Wilken Afsat a 57 www.afsat.com
4 Bushnet 25 www.bushnet.net
5 Spacenet a, b - www.spacenetuganda.com
6 Computers & Multimedia a, b - www.ugandaweb.com/cms
7 Africa Online a, b - www.africaonline.co.ug
8 Sanyutel b -
4092
Note: a) Has license for international data gateway. b) Not operational at December 1999. c) Formed
from merger of Infomail and Starcom and purchased by MSI in October 2000. d) Purchased by Africa
online in March 2000.
Source: ITU adapted from UCC and ISP data.
The most significant development so Kenya, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zim-
far for Ugandas Internet market is the babwe), received an Internet access
entry by the countrys existing tele- service and international data gate-
communication operators as well as way license in January 2000. In
foreign firms. An Internet business March 2000, it announced that it had
plan has been prepared for UTL but it purchased Ugandas second largest
is unlikely it will be acted on until its ISP, Swift Global.14 Meanwhile, MSI,
new strategic investors assume opera- the parent of CelTel, purchased Ugan-
tional control of the company. The plan das largest ISP, Infocom, in October
proposes that UTL become a retail ISP. 2000.15
Africa Online, the regional Internet MTN Uganda appears to be taking a
service provider with operations in six different course with plans to use wire-
countries (Côte dIvoire, Ghana, less technology for providing Internet
Figure 2.5. Internet users in Uganda
Estimated number of Internet users, 1995-1999 and classification of Internet users, March 1999
@vhrqÃir
ÃsÃDr
rÃr
ÃVthqh 9v
vivÃsÃDr
rÃr
ÃVthqhÃHh
((
25’000 Govern- Int’l orgs
ment (UN, WB,
20’000 5% etc.)
5%
15’000
NGO / Academic
10’000 non-profit 25%
25% Business
5’000
40%
0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Source: Left chart: ITU estimates. Right chart: Charles Musisi.
17
Uganda Case Study
Table 2.6: ISP international connectivity
February 2000
ISP Bandwidth Note
Infocom 256 kbps up / 512 kbps down Two VSATs: 1st to Norway (taide.net, affiliated with
128 kbps full circuit Telnor), 2nd to NSN (Washington State, USA). Paying
~US$ 17000 / month
Afsat 64 kbps up / 256 kbps down Plans to upgrade to 128Kb full circuit (February
2000). Downlink: kersur.net
SwiftUganda 256 kbps full circuit VSAT via Intelsat / France Telecom
SanyuTel 64 kbps full circuit
BushNet 64 kbps full circuit Using MTN
MTN 512 kbps full circuit Via TeleGlobe (on Intelsat).
AfricaOnline 128 kbps up / 256 kbps down Leased from MTN
Source: ITU adapted from ISP interviews and Charles Musisi.
access to its existing subscribers. coming Internet traffic is greater than
Mobile phones are already being con- outgoingreflecting the fact that most
nected to PCs and used to dial-in to Ugandan surfers access content
ISPs. However, the speed is presently abroadinternational connections are
limited to 9.6 kbps. In order to get asymmetric. National peering is non-
around this limitation, MTN is explor- existent.
ing a number of options. One in-
volves installing special software on 2.6 Mass media
its network that would strip out the
graphics that overwhelm the low 2.6.1 Print
connection speed. Another possibil- According to UNESCO statistics, there
ity is the introduction of Wireless were two daily newspapers in 1996
Application Protocol (WAP) that tai- with a circulation of 40000 readers.
lors Internet access for mobile This implies that only two out of
phones. A third option is the intro- 1000 people read a newspaper in
duction of General Packet Radio Uganda, far lower than radio or tele-
Services (GPRS) that uses packet- vision penetration. These statistics
switching technology to achieve seem strange, considering that over
higher transmission speeds. half the adult population is considered
literate. Affordability may be a factor,
Ugandas international Internet band- with English-language dailies costing
width has been doubling over the last USh 600.
few years. It was 1.2 Mb up and 1.7
Mb down at February 2000 (see Table The two leading daily English language
2.6) compared to 640kb up/768 down newspapers available in Kampala are
in March 1999 and 384kb in April The Monitor and The New Vision. They
1998. ISPs are allowed to have their both have web sites, http://
own international connectivity pro- www.africanews.com/monitor and
vided they have obtained the proper http://www.newvision.co.ug respec-
license. All major ISPs have their own tively. The current days edition for
international connectivity via VSAT. both newspapers is published on the
The other ISPs lease capacity from web site for free; archives and sub-
them or telecom operators. Since in- scriptions are also available. The New
18
2. Information and communication technology status
Vision also has links to sister daily and pala, some of which have their own
weekly editions including one pub- web sites.16 The Internet is serving
lished in the Luanda language. Ugandans love of music with audio
streaming available on some of the
2.6.2 Broadcasting FM radio web sites and downloading
music clips a common application in
2.6.2.1Radio Kampalas cyber cafés.
Radio is by far the most popular 2.6.2.2Television
source of information and entertain-
ment with a reported 2.6 million ra- There are nine TV stations across the
dio sets in the country. Radio is cheap country with coverage available in
(receivers are relatively inexpensive larger towns. Stations include govern-
compared to televisions, telephones ment run Uganda TV, Sanyu TV, a re-
or computers and service does not ligious station (Lighthouse Television,
require a subscription); accessible LTV) and WBS. There are an estimated
(there is near nation-wide coverage 200000 television households.
and neighbouring country broadcasts
can also be picked up); and easy Subscription television is available in
(state-owned Radio Uganda broad- Kampala through MultiChoice Africa,
casts in English as well as 28 other a subsidiary of the South African MIH
local languages and radio listening Group. There is both an analogue and
does not require literacy or other digital service with 1843 subscribers
skills). There are ten AM stations and to the former and 2110 to the latter
several private FM stations in Kam- at March 1999.
Figure 2.6: Mass Media Online
The New Vision newspaper and Radio Simba web sites
Source: As captured June 2000 from www.newvision.co.ug and www.simbafm.com.
19
Uganda Case Study
Table 2.7: Broadcasting indicators
Indicator Value Source
Radio sets 2600000 UNESCO 1997
Radio sets per 1000 inhabitants 130 UNESCO 1997
Television sets 315000 UNESCO 1997
Televisions per 1000 inhabitants 16 UNESCO 1997
Television households 200000 MultiChoice, March 1999
Households with a television 4.5%
Pay TV subscribers 3953 MultiChoice, March 1999
Source: ITU adapted from Sources shown.
5
In October 2000, UTL signed an agreement with Alcatel for a GSM mobile network. The network is targeted
for completion by December 2001. See Uganda Telecom Limited and Alcatel sign Agreement at http://
6
www.uganda.co.ug/investment/utl_alcatel.htm.
7
In a curious conflict of interest, IFC also acted as the Ministrys advisor for the privatization of UTL.
8
Celtel was in the process of applying for an ISP license in February 2000.
International Finance Corporation. Uganda Privatizes Telecom Utility with IFC Help. IFC Press Release.
9
24 February 2000. Washington DC. http://www.ifc.org/pressroom/Archive/2000/00_95/00_95.html.
See paper presented by Ant Brooks, on the role of the regulator in the Internet market, at ITU/CTO African
Internet and Telecoms Summit, the Gambia, 5-9 June 2000, available on the ITU web site at
10
http://www.itu.int/ti/africansummit.htm.
11
For example all three have been examining national ICT policies.
Although neither UTL or MTN Uganda currently provide ISP service, they are free to provide any
12
telecommunication service without applying for a license.
According to an e-mail sent from Charles Musisi to Steven G. Huter of the Network Start-up Research Centre
(NSRC) entitled The Internet in Uganda (3/99). See the NSRC site at
13
http://www.nsrc.org/db/lookup/ISO=UG.
14
Serugo Moses. Cyber-cafés take off in Kampala. The Monitor (Uganda). 23 February 2000. Page 22.
Internet Moves: Africa Online Uganda Acquires Local Player. Africa Online Press Release. 22 March 2000.
15
Kampala. http://www.africaonline.co.ke/uganda/pressrelease1.html.
16
See MSI. MSI acquires leading Ugandan ISP. Press Release. 24 October 2000.
One constraint for FM radio in Uganda is that most vehicles cannot receive the full FM band. Over 85% of
vehicles in Uganda are Japanese reconditioned vehicles originally meant to stay in Japan. Therefore the
radios in these reconditioned vehicles stop at 90MHz. Unlike the rest of the world, the Japanese FM spectrum
is legally constrained to 76 - 90MHZ. Source: http://www.uganda.co.ug/radioone/.
20
3. Internet strategy & policy
3. Internet strategy & policy
3.1 Role of incumbent telecom that service quality is often poor; oth-
operator in Internet ers have stated that the relationship
and service is good.
UTL, the incumbent telecom operator
in Uganda, has thus far kept a very UTL does provide a limited, proprietary
low Internet profile. It does not offer data service with around ten clients
either retail or wholesale Internet (using an X.25 network).
services nor, at the time of this re-
port, even have a web site. Nonethe- 3.2 Pricing structure for
less, it is indirectly involved in the Internet services
Internet through the provision of in-
coming telephone lines to ISPs and Despite a competitive ISP market,
earns increasing revenues from dial- Internet tariffs in Uganda are relatively
up Internet traffic. high. The standard tariff is US$ 50 per
month for unlimited access (tariffs are
A major factor contributing to UTLs priced in US$). There are no other vari-
lack of Internet ambition has been its ations other than full or e-mail-only
drawn out privatization process, which access. Tariffs are comparable to East
has left a void in the companys stra- African countries but are high com-
tegic development. It has been reluc- pared to other African countries. For
tant to make any major moves until example, unlimited access in Botswana
the new owners have taken over man- is only US$ 16 per month (see Ta-
agement control of the company. An ble 3.1). The lack of a low cost entry-
Internet business plan has been pre- level package effectively limits Internet
pared for UTL recommending that, access to the well-off in Uganda.
among other things, it become a re-
tail ISP itself and directly provide In addition to the ISP charge, dial-in
Internet services to the public. UTL is users have to pay local telephone call
certainly well poised to play a bigger charges, which for an average user,
role in the Internet. It has the only exceeds the ISP charge. For example,
significant nationwide fixed-line net- one estimate puts average Internet
work that it could leverage and up- use in Uganda at about one hour a
grade to provide quality Internet day or 30 hours a month. The tele-
services. It could also use its existing phone usage charge would
international voice backbone to de- amount to US$ 93.10, US$ 55.86 or
velop an international data gateway. US$ 31.03 respectively for peak, off-
On the minus side, UTL is weak in in- peak or weekend use. Added to the
formation technology experience and ISP charge, the total cost of dial-up
skills as well as customer focus. This Internet access ranges from US$ 81
might be addressed by new manage- US$ 143 per month depending on
ment as well as by linking up with an peak or off-peak usage. At these
existing ISP in Uganda or a foreign one. prices, the leased line offering of
However, this could conflict with plans US$ 200 per month for unlimited ac-
to also provide mobile cellular service cess (with no telephone usage charge
since it would be difficultresource- and 64 kbps bandwidth) begins to look
and staff-wiseto provide both ser- attractive. To put Internet pricing in
vices successfully in a short time span. perspective, the average GDP per
capita in Uganda is US$ 287 (1998).
UTL has a mixed record among its Internet access prices are between 3 -
current service to ISPs in providing 6 times more than GDP per capita so
telephone lines. Some ISPs complain clearly out of reach of most of the
that they have been overcharged and population.
21
Uganda Case Study
Table 3.1: Internet access prices in Africa
Unlimited monthly access, ISP charge, US$, February 2000
Country ISP Package Connection Subscription
Uganda Infocom Internet $ 50 $ 50
Kenya NairobiNet Internet $ 16 $ 128
Tanzania Internet Africa Internet $ 100 $ 50
Burkina Faso Onatel $ 23 $ 23
Zimbabwe Internet Unlimited Private Diamond $ 39
Botswana Mega Unlimited $ 11 $ 16
E-mail only:
Kenya NairobiNet Email $ 16 $ 24
Tanzania Cyber Twiga Email $ 36
Uganda Infocom Email $ 30 $ 30
Source: ITU adapted from ISP data.
Further exasperating the situation is can be issued. License types and fees
that there is no Internet-friendly vary depending on the type of service
tariff program for the telephone us- (see Table 3.2). There is some confu-
age charge. There is no nation-wide sion as to whether a license applica-
dial prefix for Internet access mean- tion fee is required. ISPs are also
ing that users located outside an ISPs required to pay one per cent of their
Point of Presence (POP) (basically the annual revenue to UCC as a contribu-
whole country outside Kampala) will tion to the RCDF. It has been inferred
incur long distance call charges. Us- that, as a consequence, ISPs are
ers within an ISPs POP area pay the underreporting their subscriber counts
local call charge; there is no provision in order to give the impression that
for reduced tariffs for Internet access. their revenues are less than expected.
Also, it is believed that some
Since the majority of Ugandans can- cybercafés are operating without li-
not afford current Internet access censes.
prices or an individual personal com-
puter, one alternative would be access ISPs can provide their own interna-
at public locations. But even here, tional connectivity if they have an
prices are beyond the reach of most International data gateway license,
inhabitants. For example, one cyber which includes the right to provide
café charges Ush 750 for five minutes Internet access service. ISPs can
of Internet access (around also provide domestic wireless leased
US$ 0.50 or US$ 6 per hour). Given lines to users. Some are doing this
that around 90 per cent of the popu- using microwave technology. This
lation lives on less than US$ 2 per day, requires a 2.4 GHz device and wire-
Internet use is problematic. less spread spectrum license
(US$ 2000/ year). It is not clear
3.3 Regulatory status of whether ISPs could provide wired
Internet leased lines. Some have complained
that existing service offerings from
3.3.1 Internet Service Provider the existing fixed-line providers are
(ISP) market limited or service is poor. For exam-
The ISP market is competitive. It re- ple, UTL does not seem able to pro-
quires a license from UCC. There is vide leased lines of sufficient
no limit on the number of licenses that bandwidth or in a timely matter. MTN
22
3. Internet strategy & policy
Table 3.2: Internet licenses
Type Number issued Amount
Internet access services 4 US$ 2000 / year
International data gateway and
Internet access service 5 US$ 4000 / year
Public Internet service (e.g., cybercafé) 3 US$ 500 / year
E-mail access service 1 US$ 500 / year
Source: ITU adapted from UCC information.
only provides primary rate interface school name, business name
ISDN as a high-speed option. This or non-profit organisation
poses problems for ISPs. First, they name
would be required to invest in ISDN
modems. Second, they often do not The Internet Software Consortium re-
need all the virtual lines (30) that ported 139 reachable hosts under the
come with the offering but must still .ug ccTLD in its January 2000 survey.
pay for them. Third, the dial prefix for The RIPE survey reported 180 reach-
MTNs ISDN service is the same as its able .ug hosts in December 1999. The
mobile service so users would be growth of .ug hosts had been moder-
charged at a mobile rate. ate since 1998, suggesting that either
most Ugandan organizations aware of
There is as yet no national peering for the Internet have already registered
domestic Internet traffic. or they are using other TLDs (e.g.,
.com, see Figure 3.1). It should be
3.3.2 Top level domain name noted that many, if not most web sites
in Uganda, do not use the .ug domain
Charles Musisi of Uganda OnLine is the name. Part of the reason is that the
administrator for the Uganda country domain registration is not considered
code top level domain (ccTLD, (.ug).17 to be handled by a neutral party and
The following conditions apply: thus most ISPs prefer to register hosts
using a generic TLD. Mr. Musisi
· Domains are registered at a rate counters that he processes the regis-
of US$ 50 per annum (Febru- trations in an orderly, transparent and
ary 2000) professional manner. He is concerned
that if responsibility is transferred to
· The entity operating the domain another party, it will not be handled
must be operating in Uganda properly. Unlike other ccTLDs such as
.nu, .tm, or .tv, there does not ap-
· The domain must be used within pear to be as much cachet with .ug.
3 months or must be relinquished Thus, there is little scope for commer-
cializing the .ug ccTLD.
· Domains are available as
follows: 3.4 Universal access
- Top Level Domain-ug With less than one per cent of the
- Second Level -ac(academic), population having a telephone line and
co (corporate),or (organi- an even smaller percentage having
zation), go (government body) Internet access, the diffusion of com-
- Third Level- chosen with munication technology is clearly a
consultation of the major challenge for Uganda. The main
administrator, and can be a government policy for improving ac-
23
Uganda Case Study
Figure 3.1: Uganda's domain name · At the begin-
ning of the year
Number of .ug hosts, 1995-2000 2000, Uganda had
around 2000 public
C Ã
r hpuhiyr Ãqr
Ãt payphones, roughly
split between UTL
and MTN. The lat-
ter has been active
in putting in pay-
phones, including
most recently, a
pre-fabricated shel-
ter, housing a
number of wall-
mounted units (see
Figure 3.2). Both
operators are sup-
posed to meet
Note: The .ug domain first became active in 1995. payphone installa-
Source: ITU adapted from www.isc.com. tion targets. While
payphones per se
do not provide
cessapart from the inherent benefits Internet access they can be a
of introducing competition in order to starting point. For example, MTN
foster greater supply of infrastruc- mentioned that it may one day in-
ture 18 is to mandate a certain stall payphones with computer
number of telephone lines and keyboards. Also, since an opera-
payphones that the full license opera- tor mans its payphone shelter,
tors (UTL and MTN) must install. There personal computers with Internet
is a requirement to install a certain access could be easily installed and
number of each in specific localities supervised.
to enhance rural access but otherwise
operators are free to choose where to · The private sector has been ac-
construct facilities. The targets are in tive in providing public telecom
line with the governments policy to access. The public payphone and
achieve a telephone density of two by call centre market has been liber-
2006. There are also plans to allow alized for several years and any-
operators to draw on a planned rural one can enter the market by
development fund to subsidize the in- applying for a license. However, it
stallation of networks in rural areas. is worth noting that one major
Supposedly, new companies could be public call centre operator,
licensed to provide only rural service Starcom, has been retreating from
if the incumbents choose not to do so. the market. Reasons cited for this
There is no specific Internet compo- include greater availability of cel-
nent in Ugandas current universal lular handsets with pre-paid cards,
access policy. more public payphones, and the
growing number of cyber cafés
The wisdom of the governments line that are siphoning off ancillary call
installation target policy is question- centre services such as faxing.
able. With an official waiting list of less 1999 witnessed an explosion of
than 10000 people, the demand for cyber cafés in Kampala. There
individual telephone lines is theoreti- were at least ten in operation by
cally not there. Therefore it seems that February 2000 (see Table 3.3).
efforts should be concentrated on pro- However, this phenomenon has yet
viding telephones and Internet access to reach other areas of the coun-
in public locations. This is being pur- try19. The Uganda Post Office has
sued through government targets also introduced e-mail at its main
mentioned earlier, private sector ini- branch in Kampala, as well as two
tiatives and donor assistance: other towns. It has been in con-
24
3. Internet strategy & policy
Figure 3.2: Public payphone shelter
MTN payphone shelter in Kampala
Source: ITU.
tact with potential private partners in Uganda are now hooked-up to
about extending connectivity and the Internet through this project.
public Internet access at its other CelTel, one of the mobile opera-
branches. Africa Online plans to tors, has assisted in this endeav-
install its E-touch public access our even though it is not legally
points at a number of locations. required to contribute to public
access. Also of note are several
· Foreign assistance has also been foreign-funded IT projects at
helpful for enhancing mass access Makerere University that are ena-
to the Internet. Uganda was the bling greater networking connec-
first pilot country for The World tivity and Internet access for its
Banks WorLD program (see Sec- students. Several Multipurpose
tion 4.3), which provides assist- Community Telecentres have also
ance to connect secondary schools been installed in villages (see
to the Internet. Around 20 schools Box 3.1).
Table 3.3: Cybercafés in Kampala
February 2000
Internet café Number of PCs
Shell Wandegeya n.a.
Shell Bugolobi n.a.
Cyberworld Café 22
Web Café (Udyan House) 5
Cyberdome Café 16
Post Office (UPL) 2
Aptech n.a.
Makerere University n.a.
German Cultural Society n.a.
Alliance Francaise n.a.
Source: ITU, UCC, The Monitor Newspaper.
25
Uganda Case Study
Box 3.1: The Ugandan Telecentre experience
Multipurpose Community Telecentres (MCTs) A third MCT is located in Buwama, about
have been hailed as a promising solution for 64 kilometres from Kampala. Like Nakaseke
enhancing information and telecommunication this is a rural area with most people engaged
access in rural areas. An MCT is a kind of su- in farming. Some are also involved in fishing
per cyber café. In addition to Internet access, since the area borders Lake Victoria. Like
the MCT offers telephone service, faxing, pho- Nabweru, this MCT is funded by IDRC and it
tocopying and sometimes a library and audio- started operations in June 1999. At the time
visual facilities. MCTs should be supported and of a September 1999 evaluation, the telephone
sustained by the community and supply a cost- line had not yet become operational so Internet
based service, provide relevant content and in- services were not available.
formation and offer a venue for training. An
MCT is typically located where there is limited In addition to the three MCTs, there is Bunyoro
communication access and where entrepre- Community Telecentre, located at the Hoima
neurs have not perceived a viable market op- Teachers Resource Centre, about 200 kilome-
portunity. Therefore, MCTs are traditionally tres from Kampala. Uganda Connect helped to
implemented with bi-lateral and multi-lateral set this up, using recycled PCs and other do-
assistance. nated equipment. Uganda Connect has also
helped with a mini-telecentre in Kihihi. Elec-
While MCTs sound good in theory, in reality, tricity is provided by solar panels and it is con-
few have actually been installed around the nected to the Internet by HF radio.
world. One reason is the large cost not only of
obtaining equipment but also of transporting One of the ironies of MCTs is that there is a
it to remote locations. With a large rural popu- perception that they create the same sort of
lation, Uganda has been an active test bed for digital divide that they were supposed to over-
MCTs. It provides an interesting case because come. For example, many of the inhabitants
several evaluations have been made of the of Nakaseke are illiterate farmers who do not
MCTs that have been implemented. speak English. They perceive the MCT as some-
thing for the educated elite and the only serv-
The first MCT was launched in March 1999. It ices they could use are the telephone,
is located in Nakaseke, a village about 50 kilo- photocopier and video. 20 Another perception
metres from Kampala. This MCT is a project of is that the MCT is for government use. This is
ITU, IDRC, UNESCO and several other bi-lat- reinforced in the case of the Nabweru MCT,
eral and local partners. The Nakaseke MCT has which is situated in a sub-county administra-
a library with around 3000 books as well as tive headquarters, with the police station and
some newspapers and magazines, one televi- local jail next door. This location has discour-
sion and video-recorder, five computers, one aged some potential users from going.
printer, one scanner, two telephone lines, a fax
machine and a photocopier. The telephone lines Despite the inevitable teething pains these MCTs
have been beset with problems with frequent are experiencing, they could prove beneficial for
failures. The power supply is also unreliable. rural users. A survey of potential users found
The most popular service is the photocopying that the majority communicated with Kampala
machine while the least used is the fax. by travelling there personally or sending a mes-
sage through contacts. This is because the post
The Nabweru MCT is funded by Canadas IDRC. is considered unreliable and takes too long and
It is only around five kilometres from Kampala telephones are scarce. The ability to use an MCT
with farmers making up a smaller proportion to make a call or send a fax or e-mail would
of the potential user community than the other save travel time and transportation costs. Ac-
MCTs. Nabweru MCT was launched in May 1999. cess to the Internet would also provide badly
There is no library but otherwise it has the needed information on farming techniques, lo-
same facilities as the other MCTs. Like the other cal markets and prices and health. Suggestions
MCTs, there are problems with the telephone for enhancing the value of MCTs include provid-
line exasperated by common usage between ing more relevant content in local languages and
Internet, faxing and telephone calls. Only one functionality for broadcasting personal an-
of the five computers is connected to the nouncements such as births, weddings and fu-
Internet. nerals to radio stations in Kampala.
26
3. Internet strategy & policy
Box Figure 3.1: Rural communications
Q
vh
ÃrhÃsÃpvphvÃirrrÃIhir
à Ds
hvÃrvhyÃr
Ãrrq
Ã7hhÃhqÃFhhyh
How to improve
È
Telephone 1% product/service
Market
È
Letter 13% opportunities
Messenger 14% Health care ! È
Education /
Travel 46% "'È
New skills
Note: Left chart: based on a 690 person sample in Nabweru and Buwama. Right chart: based on a
1000 person sample.
Source: Kyabwe and Kibombo.
17
18
Information about registering a host under the .ug domain is available at http://www.registry.co.ug.
For example the number of telephone subscribers has doubled since the entry of MTN into the market.
Equally important for enhancing access has been the impact of wireless technology and pre-paid cards. The
latter has been particularly relevant for a cash-based economy where credit is hard to obtain and many
19
would not qualify for subscription-based telecom services.
20
One up-country cyber café is The Source Café, the first Internet node outside Kampala.
There is among community people a perception that the centre is for the educated people
See Mona
Dahms. For the Educated People only
Reflections on a Visit to two Multipurpose Community Telecentres in
Uganda. www.idrc.ca./telecentre/evaluation/html/14_For.html.
27
Uganda Case Study
4. Sector absorption
4.1 Government institutions that are online. All this
adds to a sense of confusion and
With only a few exceptions, comput- clearly suggests the need for one in-
ers within government departments tegrated, government-operated web
and agencies are used for administra- site.
tive processes such as word process-
ing or spread sheet analysis. Very few Senior government officials have at-
have Internet access and of those that tributed the limited use of computers
do, most are using it only for e-mail. in various ministries to two major fac-
Few government ministries or agen- tors the lack of awareness of the use
cies are online (see Table 4.1). Of of computers as information and com-
those that are, less than a handful munications tools, and the high price
have their own web site with the rest of computers and other Information
using pages hosted by others. For and Communication Technology (ICT)
example, there is a web page hosted components. The use of the few com-
by Uganda Web Pages that claims to puters available does not in general ad-
be the web site for the Government vance ICT skills the PCs tend to be
of Uganda (http://www.uganda.co.ug/ used mechanically for the processes
govern). However, this web page pro- directly related to the functions re-
vides limited information and does not quired, and do not therefore contrib-
provide links to the few government ute towards improving computer
literacy. For exam-
ple, two reports
Box 4.1: Uganda Government Web Presence received during in-
terviews for this
Of the top 20 Uganda web sites listed in a popular World survey, indicated
Wide Web search engine, only one was directly linked to a that government-
Government agency the Privatization Unit within the owned financial
Ministry of Finance (http://www.perds.go.ug) The second and banking insti-
most informative web site found was UgandaThe pearl tutions had devel-
of Africa (http://www.uganda.co.ug). This private web
oped relatively
site is linked to the Privatization Unit web site, and pro-
vides most of the information and data. Other web sites
sophisticated
covered tourism, culture and history, ecology, and ISP pub- computer sys-
licity. The only health related site, (http://www.tripprep tems but, due to
.com) seems to focus on health risks for visitors to Uganda. security and other
concerns, users
were not encour-
aged to develop
computer skills
other than those
needed for imme-
diate tasks. The
government did
not, therefore,
contribute to-
wards improving
the computer lit-
eracy levels of
their own staff.
A third important
factor identified
28
4. Sector absorbtion
Table 4.1: Uganda government web sites
June 2000
National institutions Web page / site
Parliament of Uganda www.parliament.go.ug
Government of Uganda www.uganda.co.ug/govern
Office of the Vice President www.ovpuganda.net
Ministry of Education and Sports www.educationsectoruganda.com
Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Develop-
ment (MFPED)
Uganda Privatization Program: PERDS www.perds.go.ug
Population Secretariat www.uganda.co.ug/population
Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry
Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) www.uganda.co.ug/unbs.htm
National Environment Management Authority www.uganda.co.ug/nema
Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications www.miniworks.go.ug
Uganda Police
Training Planning Unit (TPU) www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/7383/
Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) www.ura.go.ug
Capital Markets Authority (CMA) www.ugandacapitalmarkets.co.ug
Uganda Tourist Board (UTB) www.utbsite.com
www.visituganda.com
www.africa-insites.com/uganda
Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC)
National AIDS Documentation and
Information Centre (NADIC) www.uganda.co.ug/nadic
Bank of Uganda www.bou.or.ug
Office of the Inspector General of Government www.uganda.co.ug/igg
Interim Electoral Commission www.imul.com/interim
Uganda Investsment Authority www.ugandainvest.com
Source: ITU adapted from http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/ug.html.
during interviews is the relatively high A fourth factor inhibiting the use of ICT
dependence on international donor in governance is the poorly developed
assistance for the modernization of the telecommunications infrastructure.
processes of governance, which often Government processes must focus on
include relatively sophisticated ICT the entire nation, but, with more than
based management systems.21 These 80 per cent of the population residing
development programs tend to focus in rural areas with virtually no access
on the processes themselves, and the to basic telecommunication services
information systems needed for their and reliable electrical power, there is
operation. They tend to be driven by little incentive to consider ICT as a
computer literate international con- useful tool for improving the govern-
sultants, who do not have the time to ments effectiveness.
develop internal champions to pro-
mote computer literacy in the govern- Despite the many discouraging factors
ment departments and institutions outlined above, there is a growing
concerned. optimism in Uganda as a whole that
29
Uganda Case Study
ICT processes will be introduced, and computers and telecommunica-
that the process of governance will tion systems is duty-free.
be improved through the use of mod-
ern ICT tools. This growing optimism · Simple regulatory processes
is demonstrated by the following de- for ICT development. The na-
velopments: tional regulatory framework has
been designed to encourage
· Recognition of the impor- growth of the ICT sector in an
tance of ICT, and a clear vi- orderly manner. Where protec-
sion for its progressive tion of new entrants to the sec-
introduction. The most dra- tor is required, such protection
matic demonstration of this vi- is provided transparently with
sion is the liberalization of the clearly defined time limits. New
t e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s e c t o r, entrants outside these controlled
which has resulted in one of the sectors are encouraged through
highest growth rates of access simple and rapid licensing appli-
on the African continent. Access cation and approval systems.
to basic telecommunication via
both fixed and mobile services The following sections provide a brief
has increased more than five- outline of the initiatives in specific
fold since the start of sector lib- Government departments and institu-
eralization in 1994. While fixed tions, for the development of ICT in-
line telecommunication services frastructure and its utilization.
have stagnated, the disposal of
51 per cent of shares in UTL to 4.1.1 Communications
a foreign strategic investor con-
sortium provides grounds for re- The Ministry of Works, Housing and
newed optimism. Communication would like to play a
lead role in the development of ICT
· ICT Policy. The Hon. Minister of infrastructure and utilization. The
Works, Housing and Communica- successes achieved to date are highly
tions has further demonstrated significant but indications are that
the national vision by outlining use of ICT technologies and proc-
the Governments plans to de- esses within the ministry itself are
velop a clear ICT policy. The relatively underdeveloped. The few
policy under consideration will computers installed in the ministry
build on recent sector successes, are primarily used for administrative
and encourage even more rapid tasks, although some have been
growth of the whole ICT sector equipped with dial-up modems and
over and beyond the telecommu- have e-mail connections through
nications component currently in various ISPs. There was very little
focus, through broad national evidence of the use of e-mail or the
consultation and consensus Internet to conduct ministerial busi-
building encompassing all na- ness communications. However, a
tional stakeholders. This ITU strong desire for the development of
study was welcomed by the Min- ICT within the ministry was ex-
ister, who looked forward to in- pressed during interviews, and it is
corporating the findings of the expected that the ministry will de-
study in developing the planned velop its own ICT networks and proc-
ICT policy. esses as it formulates policy for this
sector.
· Other Government support
for ICT development. National The Ministry of Works, Housing and
Government support for ICT Communications has access to ICT
growth initiatives is clearly dem- knowledge through its control of gov-
onstrated by the Governments ernment stakes in UTL and the postal
decision to eliminate all customs services operator, UPL. Although both
tariffs on the importation of ICT these organizations have yet to de-
equipment the importation of velop full ICT skills, they are well
30
4. Sector absorbtion
placed to assist their parent ministry. skills for use in postal operations.
UTL has valuable telecommunication During interviews with UPL execu-
skills, as the incumbent fixed line tel- tives, a high level of enthusiasm for
ecommunications network operator, ICT was demonstrated. UPL has es-
but generally lacks computer and ad- tablish its own web site (http://
vanced ICT networking skills. These www.ugandapost. com). It has also
are likely to be provided in the short embarked on the development of
term through its strategic equity part- public e-mail and Internet services
ners. UTL has about 100 PCs, nearly to supplement its postal services, on
all of which are used primarily for ad- e-commerce to promote and market
ministrative purposes. its philatelic business, and on other
ICT services such as mail and parcel
Since the separation of posts from tracking and delivery control. UPL
telecommunication services, UPL has has plans to install local and wide
focused much of its attention on de- area networks for its internal and
veloping new skills for its own sur- geographically diverse presence. UPL
vival. Prior to the separation, the is therefore likely to develop useful ICT
forerunner of UPL depended largely skills in the near future, which will not
on subsidies from the earnings of tel- only improve its own effectiveness, but
ecommunication services. Part of this may also contribute to the ICT knowl-
survival strategy is to develop ICT edge base of its parent ministry.
Box 4.2: Digital Posts
Postal services have traditionally formed part of the office in Kampala as well as the towns of Soroti and
communications sector. In many countries this was Jinja and plans to extend the service to all regional
institutionalized through a combined post and tele- offices.22 UPL has also been in talks with ISPs about
communication operator, such as Uganda with the a possible franchise agreement to provide public
Uganda Posts and Telecommunication Corporation. Internet services from post offices. UPL could also
The wave of reform sweeping the telecommunica- consider leveraging its 65000 private letterboxes
tion sector over the last decade has instilled the into a nationwide virtual letterbox for all Ugan-
notion that the often loss-making, employee- dans.
bloated, old-fashioned postal service should be
separated from telecommunications. Like many Another advantage is parcel delivery. UPL has faced
countries, Uganda went through this so-called re- considerable competition in this area with private
structuring exercise and separated posts and tel- courier services allowed to operate in Uganda since
ecommunications in 1998. 1989. It estimates that it has around 40 per cent of
the market. One disadvantage for UPL is that, un-
A popular scenario envisaged the slow death of like the private couriers, it has a universal service
national post offices. On the one hand, growing obligation to try to ensure postal service availabil-
competition from dynamic courier services would ity in all parts of the country. The advent of e-com-
eat into one of the few profit-making areas. On the merce could be a boost for UPL as users increasingly
other hand, new electronic services such as fax and turn to the Internet to order products and want
e-mail would erase the need for letters. However, speedy delivery. Though business-to-consumer e-
the national postal service has some inherent ad- commerce is practically non-existent in Uganda, this
vantages that it could exploit to transform itself is bound to change. UPL is already gaining experi-
into a leading cyber player. Uganda Posts Limited ence in this area through two fronts. On the one
(UPL) recognizes this and is beginning to embark hand, it has implemented a package tracing facility
in a digital direction. on its web site. On the other hand, UPL itself is
engaged in a crude form of e-commerce through
One advantage is that the post office is a regularly the marketing of stamps on its web site.
visited public location. UPL probably has one of the
largest presences in the country with nine regional It is ironic that in Uganda at least the postal sector
offices, 70 departmental offices and 236 sub post seems to be a lot more aware and active in Internet
offices. UPL is well aware that its network of offices activities than the telecom operators. However UPL
could be leveraged to provide public Internet serv- must first overcome the public perception of long
icesregional and departmental offices are delays for postal delivery if it is to convince them
equipped with telephonesand indeed has started of its readiness for the digital age.
to do so. It offers e-mail service at the main post
31
Uganda Case Study
4.1.2 Finance required to maximize the effective-
ness of ICT services.
Although the Ministry of Finance was
not directly included in the survey, key Although direct interviews with the
institutions within the ministry such Privatization Unit within the Ministry
as the Bureau of Statistics, and the of Finance were not conducted, infor-
Commercial Bank of Uganda, provided mation provided indicates that this
valuable information for the prepara- unit has ICT capacity, which can con-
tion of this report. The Ministry of Fi- tribute well to the ICT knowledge base
nance itself has virtually no ICT of its parent ministry. The information
presence besides a few autonomous available, however, tends to suggest
organizations within its area of respon- that the ICT capacity within the Pri-
sibility, such as the Bureau of Statis- vatization Unit has been driven more
tics and the Privatization Unit. The by the needs and interests of the in-
Ministry of Finance has a single main- ternational donors providing technical
frame computer used exclusively for assistance to the unit, than by the
pay-roll support of all public service national members of the unit itself. A
ministries, and a small number of close examination of the Privatization
stand-alone PCs for administrative and Unit web site, http://www.perds.go.
analytical processes needed for its ug, tends to support this assumption.
normal functions. Crucial information, such as the de-
scription of the privatization of the
The largest user of ICT in the Ministry telecommunication sector, is found in
of Finance appears to be Uganda Com- a linked private web site, which itself
mercial Bank (UCB), which is being contains minimal information.
privatized. Dr. Ham-Mukasa Mulira
heads UCBs Management Information 4.1.3 The Bureau of Statistics
Systems division and is also very ac-
tive in the whole ICT sector of Uganda, The Uganda Bureau of Statistics
particularly in his capacity as an ex- (UBOS) is the countrys national sta-
ecutive of the Uganda Computer So- tistical agency. It has been recently
ciety. UCB has a clear policy and established as an autonomous body
development program for the deploy- within the Ministry of Finance and in-
ment of ICT for its own use. This pro- herits all the functions and respon-
gram has to date provided nearly sibilities of the now defunct
500 PCs and servers for its internal Department of Statistics. UBOS, with
functions, and is in the process of in- technical assistance from the Gov-
stalling these in all branches spread ernment of Denmark and the World
throughout the country. The first step Bank, is in the process of modernis-
of the development strategy consists ing its processes through the intro-
of automating all of the banks d u c t i o n o f I C T. P l a n s f o r t h e
67 branches, followed by the intro- construction of a local area network
duction of internal networking, and (LAN) are well advanced, but the
finally the installation of a wide area construction of a wide area network
network to link all branches within (WAN) linking the 45 district offices
the country. At the time of the inter- under its control is constrained by
views, only a couple of the banks the availability of electrical power and
computers had Internet access. A access to telecommunication services.
major training component forms part The Bureau uses one of the major pri-
of the banks automation strategy, vate ISPs in Uganda for its Internet
however, this training is limited to and e-mail access. UBOS compiles an
specific banking processes, and will array of data published in paper re-
not contribute much to a broader ICT ports that are not, however, easily ob-
knowledge base in the near future. tainable. It is imperative for UBOS to
Professional computer operators establish a web site in order to ex-
have, in general, developed high pand access to the information. 23
level skills in automated banking Wider access to national statistics
processes but remain largely illiter- would enhance decision-making and
ate in the broader computer skills planning and enhance transparency.
32
4. Sector absorbtion
4.2 Health ment between the Ministry of Health,
UTL, and the ITU to link the training
Discussions with officials of the Minis- hospital in Mulago with Mengo Hospi-
try of Health indicated a high level of tal in Kampala. UTL is to provide ISDN
awareness of the benefits of ICT in the connections between the two hospi-
health delivery processes. The Minis- tals under an African Development
try has a program in progress aimed Bank funded project.25
at creating awareness and sense of
urgency for the need for computer lit- Ministry officials expressed concern
eracy and use of ICT products. While over the huge awareness problem
efforts to automate many of the health facing the ministry. At higher levels,
delivery processes started about six it is estimated that 99 per cent
years ago, such efforts tended to be awareness of the value of ICT in
disjointed and uncoordinated. The health delivery exists, but less than
need for closer coordination and ra- ten per cent have the skills or ac-
tionalization of projects and programs cess to the equipment required. One
has been recognized, and a National way that it is trying to remedy this
Telemedicine Committee has been es- is through the provision of free com-
tablished to coordinate activities re- puter lessons for staff. The Ministry
lated to telemedicine and to conduct of Health recognizes the serious con-
sensitization workshops and training sequences resulting from its inabil-
programs. ity to spread ICT products for health
d e l i ve r y s e r v i c e s t h r o u g h o u t
The Ministry of Health itself has about Uganda. The sense of isolation by ru-
120 computers installed at its head- ral based medical practitioners,
quarters for 200 staff but most of which results in high levels of mo-
these are used for administrative func- bility, and the inability to provide
tions only. There is an African Devel- consultancy support to remote medi-
opment Bank project to link cal locations, is only one of the nega-
35 computers on a LAN. All district tive consequences mentioned.
health offices have a computer and
many have a telephone; however As in other activities related to the
most PCs are used for administrative delivery of social services, the poor
purposes and very few, if any, are net- telecommunications and electrical in-
worked. The ministry itself does not frastructures have been recognized as
yet have a web site. The greatest level the greatest obstacles to sustainable
of Internet and e-mail connectivity can development.
be found at the Makerere University
Medical School, where researchers, 4.3 Education
staff, and students have access to the
World Wide Web.24 The educational system in Uganda can
be broadly divided into three catego-
There is an ITU-assisted telemedicine ries: primary (from age 6), second-
project comprising a three way agree- ary (from age 13) and university.
Box 4.3: NADIC
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is ment projects for the control of AIDS. An impor-
a devastating health problem in Uganda. An esti- tant weapon in the battle against AIDS is access
mated 1.5 million Ugandans are infected with the to information about treatment and prevention.
AIDS virus and over half a million people have The National AIDS Documentation and Informa-
died from the disease since 1982, dramatically tion Centre (NADIC) was set up in 1995. Assist-
reducing life expectancy in the country. The gov- ance from the French government has helped
ernment has taken tough steps to deal with the NADIC to enhance its services by providing full
epidemic. It established the Uganda AIDS Com- Internet connectivity and establishing a web pres-
mission (UAC) in 1992 to coordinate and imple- ence (http://www.uganda.co.ug/nadic).
33
Uganda Case Study
Education is highly valued and there (56 per cent) receive government
is strong competition for admission to funding for teacher salaries while pri-
higher levels. However, as in many vate secondary schools do not. In both
developing countries, government re- cases, parents must cover tuition and
sources for schools and teachers are other charges. This is a major reason
insufficient and the low income of the why enrolment levels are much lower
majority of the population limits the than for primary schools with only
viability of private financing for edu- around 12 per cent of secondary age
cation. Nonetheless, major strides children in school.
have been made in school enrolment,
particularly at the primary level. ICT As with primary schools, computer
applications such as distance educa- education is not part of the standard
tion, information retrieval and elec- national program for secondary
tronic delivery of textbooks could help schools. Nevertheless, computers are
overcome resource limitations.26 This available in a few private schools.
is not yet widely supported by the There is a World Bank project for pro-
government, particularly at lower lev- viding Internet access in some sec-
els of the educational system.27 One ondary schools (see Box 4.4), as well
major constraint is that roughly 60 per as several smaller initiatives. Apart
cent of schools do not have electric- from these few undertakings, compu-
ity. The Ministry of Education and ter and Internet usage at the second-
Sports (http://www.educationsector ary level is very limited.
uganda.com) is responsible for over-
all policy in the sector. Significant op- 4.3.3 University
erational responsibility has been
devolved to the local community level. Although Uganda has a dozen univer-
sities, the biggest by far is Makerere
4.3.1 Primary University (http://www. muk.ac.ug).
Established in 1922, Kampalas
The majority of government funding Makerere University is the oldest in
for education is aimed at the primary East Africa. It is also one of the re-
level where there are around five mil- gions largest with over 10000 regis-
lion students and 85000 teachers.28 tered students and almost as many
The Universal Primary Education (UPE) non-registered. The University con-
policy, which provides free primary sists of eleven faculties and six insti-
level education for up to four children tutes.
in each family, was launched in 1997.
The policy has doubled the number of Makerere has been involved with the
students so that around 85 per cent Internet since its inception in Uganda.
of all primary age children now attend One of the earliest references to the
school. One concern is that UPE has Internet in Uganda mentions the exist-
affected the quality and effectiveness ence of a Fidonet30 node at Makerere
of primary education because of the University as early as April 1993. By
large increase in students. Also, while October 1995, the MUKLA (Makerere
enrolment levels have improved, University Kampala) Internet Service
keeping students in school is a chal- was providing e-mail for students and
lenge (e.g., the grade 7 completion faculty. Today the university has around
rate is only 42 per cent). There is no 600 computers, some connected to Lo-
policy for computer exposure during cal Area Networks.31 There are over
early schooling and, according to dis- 10000 Internet users at Makerere, rep-
cussions with staff from the Ministry resenting roughly one third of all users
of Education, computer usage at the in Uganda. Paid Internet access is pro-
primary level is minimal. vided from a number of access points
throughout the university. Internet ac-
4.3.2 Secondary cess is presently provided by one of the
ISPs at full tariffs.
Uganda has almost 1000 secondary
schools with around 300000 stu- The Makere University Institute of
dents. 29 Public secondary schools Computer Science was established in
34
4. Sector absorbtion
Box 4.4: WorLD
In July 1996, Uganda became the first country to and searching the Internet for information. The use
benefit from a World Bank project when three sec- of the Internet to teach subjects has not been fully
ondary schools were provided with Internet con- realized, partly due to a lack of trained staff as well
nectivity. The purpose was to introduce students as the limited connectivity time (only one free hour
to computers and the Internet, use the Internet a day). One result is that off-line CDs such as
to teach students about different countries, carry Microsoft Encarta are used quite extensively. The
out collaborative projects between schools inside project has also created a cultural revolution of
and outside Uganda, and allow teachers to exchange sorts, pitting traditional teaching methods against
experiences. This School-to-School Initiative was interactivity and experimentation. For example, a
later transformed into a more ambitious Bank pro- number of schools do not allow students to use the
gram known as World Links for Development computer labs during class times because they feel
(WorLD) (http://www.worldbank.org/worldlinks/ youngsters should concentrate on the traditional
english/html/uganda.htm). The WorLD objective is national curriculum and focus on exam-oriented re-
to establish a network linking students and educa- sults. On the other hand, teachers have been learn-
tors around the world. Some 320 schools in 15 de- ing computer skills from students who are less
veloping countries are currently participating in inhibited about grasping new technology.
WorLD. In Uganda, WorLD has expanded to
20 schools and has ambitious plans to connect all The program has proven popular with many par-
the nations schools. ents who feel it adds to the prestige of the school
and teaches important skills. The parents have been
The WorLD project in Uganda has been held back willing to pay extra to cover the cost of operating
by infrastructure, human and social limitations. and maintaining the computers. One irony is that
There are a limited number of computers per stu- there has been significant digital exploration and
dent, restricted time for using the dial-up telephone, collaboration with schools abroad yet very little in-
and electrical outages. Usage is primarily e-mail teraction between the Ugandan schools.
1985. It offers a one-year program over the many disjointed initiatives
leading to a postgraduate diploma. past and present. ICT related initia-
This program has between 10-20 stu- tives in progress include:
dents a year and has graduated
around 200. There are plans to de- · The Makerere Wireless Imple-
velop both undergraduate and post- mentation Plan a United States
graduate degree courses in Computer Agency for International Devel-
Science. Basic computer training is opment program to provide di-
also provided to all new students in rect Internet connectivity via
order to allow them to use the library satellite (128Kbps up/1Mbps
computing facilities. down) and build a broadband
wireless backbone linking univer-
Makerere is one of the campuses of sity campuses and sites. This
the World Bank led African Virtual program aims to improve the uni-
University (AVU). There is a versitys research capabilities, its
videoconference facility from which teaching functions, and its ad-
students can hear and see lecturers ministrative functions.
deliver classes from a studio. The
course is transmitted to AVUs central · An African Development Bank
uplink facilities in the United States funded project to build a local
and then beamed by satellite to cen- area network linking most de-
tres all across Africa, which are partments of the university
equipped with a satellite dish needed through fibre optic cable. Imple-
to receive the signal. mentation of this project has
been delayed for several years
Makerere University demonstrates one but recent activities have created
of the highest levels of ICT usage and a new enthusiasm that may re-
awareness in Uganda. The Vice Chan- sult in its implementation.
cellor notes that the University plays
a leading role in the promotion of ICT · NORAD, the Norwegian Develop-
usage but he also expressed concern ment Agency, has agreed to fund
35
Uganda Case Study
a related project that will deliver in that computer training is limited or
many ICT components, including non-existent at the primary and sec-
the development of a modern ondary school levels. However, effec-
Management Information Sys- tiveness and quality varies.
tem, electronic library tools, etc.
Clearly Uganda has far to go to im-
The university is aware of the need to prove the level of computer training
coordinate these initiatives closely so and access in its educational system.
as to avoid costly duplication and This is critical if the country is to build
wasted effort. the expertise to successfully exploit
information technology for its devel-
While Makerere University is well opment needs. One often cited criti-
placed to lead the nation in ICT knowl- cism is that the educational system
edge development, through the pro- has failed to encourage software de-
duction of ICT literate graduates, velopment skills because creativity is
researchers and teachers, there re- not encouraged and the goal of many
mains one major point of concern students is to be employable in tradi-
the immense challenges of absorbing tional areas.
the expected output of Ugandas UPE
program. To meet this challenge, the 4.4 Business
university thinks that an immense
national effort must be made to en- Ugandan businesses with Internet ac-
sure that other national players can cess primarily use it for communica-
join the university in providing the tions (e.g., e-mail, Internet faxing) or
required tertiary education, and this information retrieval. The use of the
can only be realized through the wide- Internet to carry out electronic com-
spread use of ICT. merce (e-commerce) is at an early
stage. This is due to a combination of
4.3.4 Other limitations such as appropriate and
affordable communication facilities
There are commercial institutes in and services, the structure and nature
Kampala providing training in basic of the economy, awareness, expertise
computer courses, primarily aimed at and government encouragement:
recent secondary school graduates or
office workers who need to develop · While the country has made im-
basic office application skills. These pressive progress in enhancing
institutes provide a valuable service telephone access the last several
Box 4.5: Training the trainers
One of the most important functions of the educa- hundreds of kilometres from Kampala to the
tional system in the Information Age is to train stu- Internet. It has also developed connectivity projects
dents in ICT. This is a challenge for developing using GSM mobile and microwave radio. It has been
countries such as Uganda where there are hardly developing ICT skills using donated personal com-
any computers in schools and very few teachers puters and a core of volunteer trainers. It starts
with the requisite skills. Some in the development students off on the basics, first teaching them typ-
community argue that the resources required for ing skills, then moving on to word processing and
wiring and training developing countries at levels spreadsheets before finally leading them to e-mail
equivalent to developed ones are simply not avail- and the World Wide Web. Advanced students be-
able. They also argue that the top-down approach come trainers themselves. At the end of the first
and ambitious ICT projects proposed by most do- year of this program, six original trainees were
nors are not sustainable. Instead, solutions should teaching 100 students. This experience has dem-
be appropriate to the capacity of the country and onstrated how by very simple meanslocally based
driven by grass-roots enthusiasm. This is the ap- Train the Trainer programs, which create a critical
proach taken by Uganda Connect, which proposes body of knowledge workersa community within
low-cost technological solutions and a Train-the- an emerging nation may use the Internet and In-
Trainers program. Uganda Connect has demon- formation Revolution to take the future into its own
strated the use of HF radio to connect a rural area hands. 32
36
4. Sector absorbtion
years, teledensity has not yet on its web site. The Post Office is
reached one telephone per also using the Internet to pro-
100 inhabitants. Furthermore, vide information about Ugandan
most of the increase has come stamps, which has proven popu-
as a result of mobile telephones, lar with overseas philatelists.
which are not currently ideally Unfortunately, stamp orders have
suited for developing e-com- to be processed off-line because
merce applications. Where suit- on-line credit card verification is
able infrastructure is available, not currently possible. Another
the costs of Internet connection irony is that most Ugandan web
are steep for a poor nation. Busi- sites advertising online shopping
nesses desiring a web presence provide links to popular overseas
would also have to factor in the e-commerce sites rather than
cost of web page development Ugandan ones.
and hosting, and to have more
impact, their own domain name · For e-commerce to take off, gov-
and high-speed connection. ernment commitment is neces-
sary. The government needs to
· Ugandas economy is not ideally instill confidence by adopting an
suited for e-commerce. It is pre- appropriate legal framework.
dominately rural-based and ag- Second, it must promote aware-
ricultural products comprise the ness through workshops, crea-
main exports. Though privatiza- tion of national e-commerce task
tion is underway, a number of force, development of visible pi-
large industries are state-owned lot projects, etc.33 Few, if any, of
and thus lack the incentive and these steps are currently
initiative to adopt new methods underway.
of doing business. Owners of
small and medium sized service- Despite these barriers, there is some
oriented businesses lack informa- rudimentary e-commerce activity in
tion technology awareness and the country aimed at providing static
skills. Furthermore, the domes- information for those with money
tic market for electronic trading (e.g., foreigners and overseas Ugan-
is limited since the vast majority dans). Several major newspapers and
of Ugandans do not have Internet radio stations are on-line with web
access. Finally, the economy is sites aimed at expatriate Ugandans
predominately cash-based, credit (see Section 2.6).34 They are begin-
is dear and credit card ownership ning to use banner advertising and
and usage limited. have online classifieds for jobs and
buying cars. Most government web
· Awareness is a major barrier with presence consists of pages with invest-
many businesses and govern- ment and economic information tar-
ment officials unfamiliar or un- geted at foreigners. These include
convinced about the benefits of sites such as the Uganda Privatization
e-commerce. There are few ini- Program, Uganda Investment Author-
tiatives to spread e-commerce ity, Uganda Exports Promotion Board,
awareness such as workshops, as well as the Ugandan embassy in
task forces, etc. the United States.
· The capacity for the development With approximately 238000 tourists
of e-commerce applications is contributing around 20 per cent of ex-
limited. Electronic trading re- port earnings in 1998, tourism is a
quires sophisticated support, in- promising e-commerce sector to aim at
cluding interactive web sites, foreigners. 35 There are a growing
logistics and advertising. The number of travel-related sites such as
case of Uganda Posts is a relevant the government Uganda Tourist Board
example. It is keen to participate as well as related Visit Uganda and
in e-commerce and has imple- Uganda Tourist Association web sites.
mented a parcel tracking service About a dozen hotels and lodges also
37
Uganda Case Study
Figure 4.1 Uganda Tourist Board Web site members in informa-
tion technology. 36
There is also an
UNCTAD-developed
Trade Point in Kampala
(http://www.nic.ug/
tradepoint) aimed at
assisting small and
medium-sized busi-
ness with trading op-
portunities. Yet an-
other business
directory is hosted by
Uganda Home Pages
(http://www.uganda.
co.ug/busines.htm).
While these initiatives
are to be encouraged,
Source: http://www.utbsite.com. these sites tend to be
slow, the web site
names are not intuitive,
have web sites or web pages; many are company searches are awkward and in-
listed on the Hotel and Catering Asso- complete and many pages are not avail-
ciation of Uganda web pages (http:// able. A well-designed, comprehensive
www.uganda.co.ug/hcau.htm). mega-directory to businesses in Uganda
is sorely needed.
The countrys largest conglomerate
has also established a web presence. The financial sector in Uganda has a lim-
The Madhvani Group, with an annual ited online presence. Only one commer-
turnover of US$ 100 million and over cial bank, Stanbic, has a web site (http:/
13000 employees, has its own web /www.stanbic.co.ug/).37 The nations
site at http://www.madhvani.org. The largest bank, the Uganda Commercial
online pages regroup and provide e- Bank (UCB), has between 400-500 per-
mail (and web site address where sonal computers for its 1500 staff, some
available) for Madhvanis diversified with Internet access but it does not have
holdings, including a sugar cane fac- a web site or provide online banking.
tory, tea plantation, brewery, safari About half of its 67 branches through-
lodge, construction company and tele- out the country have PCs and LANs. It
vision channel. Though static, this is was mentioned that since all taxpayers
a clean-looking site suggesting some must file their returns through UCB,
expertise. Indeed Madhvani owns an which in turn passes them on to the
information technology company Uganda Revenue Authority, there is
(Software Applications Ltd.) through scope to automate that process as a
which it could develop e-commerce business-to-business (B2B) e-com-
applications. merce pilot. There are a few ATMs in
Kampala (at Barclays Bank). Although
Industry associations also have web the countrys stock exchange, the
pages containing business listings. The Uganda Securities Exchange, has a
Uganda Manufacturers Association web site (http://www.ugandacapital
(UMA) ( http://www.uganda.co.ug/ markets.co.ug), trading is limited and
uma), established in 1960, has a di- only one stock is listed. The countrys
rectory of its some 700 members on central bank, the Bank of Uganda, has
its web site. The Uganda National a web site (http://www.bou.or.ug) that
Chamber of Commerce and Industry provides daily foreign exchange rates,
(UNCCI) also provides a trade direc- economic reviews and a directory of
tory on its web site (http://www. Ugandas financial institutions (totaling
uganda.co.ug/commerce.htm) and 26 commercial banks, credit institutions
also claims to have a Business and and development banks at March 2000).
Computer Center where it trains its
One major drawback for e-commerce
38
4. Sector absorbtion
is the lack of a professional, popular this has been high jacked by a North
and comprehensive portal. Though American discount travel company.
there are a number of directories for Few companies in Uganda have their
the country (see Table 4.2), the names own web site; most use web pages
of these web sites would not be easy hosted by ISPs. This is unfortunate
to guess. Perhaps the most obvious since directories hosted by ISPs typi-
guess for the name of a Ugandan por- cally list only their clients.
tal would be www. uganda.com but
Table 4.2: Destination Uganda
Selected web directories for Uganda, June 2000
Uganda Home Pages www.uganda.co.ug
Uganda Web www.ugandaweb.com
Online Uganda Guide www.imul.com/uganda
Uganda Online www.nic.ug
Orientation Uganda ug.orientation.com
Africa Online www.africaonline.co.ug
Uganda Page www.sas.upenn.edu/African_Studies/Country_Specific/
Uganda.html
Index on Uganda www.africaindex.africainfo.no/pages/Country_pages/Uganda
Africa South of the Sahara www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/uganda.html
Uganda The Pearl of Africa imul.com/uganda
Source: ITU.
39
Uganda Case Study
21
One donor web site lists 43 ICT-related development projects for Uganda. Most relate to Canadian
government support, with many more unlisted projects involving other multi-lateral and bi-lateral
organizations. A major complaint is that there is little coordination (let alone a master directory) of all the
ICT projects being implemented in Uganda. For a partial listing perform a search on Projects & Activities for
22
Uganda on the Global Knowledge web site: http://www.bellanet.org/gkaims.
Some 456 e-mails were sent from the Kampala post office during the month of December 1999 while
207 were received. UPL charges Ush 1000 for sending an e-mail and 500 for receiving one. This can be
contrasted with the traditional postal tariffs which are Ush 300 for sending a national surface letter,
Ush 400 for a national airmail letter (up to 20 grams) and Ush 600 for a ten gram letter to Europe. While
postal tariffs are cheaper, they are not as reliable. Furthermore, e-mail prices are per e-mail; a large
document sent via e-mail would not only cost less but would arrive sooner. Though e-mail contributed a
minisule 0.1 per cent to UPLs US$ 4 million of revenues, it is a start and an amount that should grow as the
23
service becomes more widely known and available.
There exists one web page describing the old Department of Statistics (http://www.ugandaweb.com/stat). It
is outdated and suggests that, sometimes, it is better to have no web presence than to have something
24
misleading.
25
The university library also hosts the local HealthNet node (http://www.healthnet.org/hnet/uga.html).
ITU brings telemedicine to Uganda. Press Release. 11 August 2000. www.itu.int/newsroom/press/releases/
26
2000/18.html.
All of these applications are available in the country, albeit on a very limited scale. For instance, the African
Virtual University at Makerere University is using distance learning. Several secondary schools are using the
Internet to retrieve information for class assignments. An example of electronic school book delivery was
cited about a rural school. School officials normally travel numerous hours by motorised transport to a large
town to purchase textbooks. It was often the case that the materials were not available. With the installation
27
of an Internet connection, the school is now able to download course materials from the web.
This may be changing according to a news report that the Ministry of Sports and Education plans to sensitize
28
schools on the use of the Internet. See http://www.uconnect.org/vision%205%206%202000.html .
Much of the information on primary schools comes from a United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) Activity Data Sheet accessed on 28 February 2000 from
29
www.info.usaid.gov/pubs/cp2000/uganda.html.
30
Data for secondary schools comes from World Bank. World Links for Development: Case Study of Uganda.
31
Fidonet is a network for exchanging e-mails. For more information see www.fidonet.org.
As cited in Makerere Wireless Implementation Plan prepared by Federal Systems Integration and
32
Management Center for USAID/Leland Initiative. March 1999.
See Daniel Stern. Keys to Human Resource Development: Capacity Building Through Train-the-Trainer
Programs and Universal Access Through Affordable Wireless Technologies.
33
http://www.isoc.org/inet99/proceedings/3f/3f_4.htm .
The AITEC 2000 conference in Kampala did have an e-commerce workshop where the lack of credit facilities
were cited as a main barrier. At the same conference, a pilot project to electronically store government
34
records was proposed.
Unlike tangible products, newspapers are virtual and can be easily disseminated. This is the conclusion of a
Canadian-financed e-commerce project for East Africa: But virtual products such as newspapers produced
on the Internet could easily reach the sizeable market of East Africans living abroad. See Curt Labond.
35
Promoting Electronic Commerce in East Africa. IDRC Reports. 28 June 1999. http://www.idrc.ca/reports.
36
The tourist statistics are from the World Bank World Development Indicators 2000.
UMA and UNCCI were jointly involved in a US$ 350000 United National Industrial Development Organization
(UNIDO) project to establish and information system to enhance their capability to promote investment and
37
provide services for their members.
Barclays has some information about its Ugandan operations hosted on the corporate web site at
http://www.africa.barclays.com/.
40
5. Conclusions
5. Conclusions
5.1 State of the Internet in · connectivity infrastructure: a
Uganda measure based on international
and intra-national backbone
The Mosaic Group (mosaic.unomaha bandwidth, exchange points, and
.edu/gdi.html) has developed a frame- last-mile access methods.
work for characterizing the state of the
Internet in a nation. They consider six · organizational infrastructure: a
dimensions, each of which has five or- measure based on the state of
dinal values ranging from zero (non- the ISP industry and market con-
existent) to four (highly developed). The ditions.
dimensions are as follow:
· sophistication of use: a measure
· pervasiveness: a measure based characterizing usage from con-
on users per capita and the de- ventional to highly sophisticated
gree to which non-technicians and driving innovation.
are using the Internet.
Ugandan values for these dimensions
· geographic dispersion: a meas- are shown in Figure 5.1.
ure of the concentration of the
Internet within a nation, from Pervasiveness is rated as level 1,
none or a single city to nation- Embryonic. There are an estimated
wide availability. 25,000 users out of a population of
almost 22 million for a user rate
· sectoral absorption: a measure of 0.12%. This figure is just above
of the degree of utilization of the level 1 but considering that many us-
Internet in the education, com- ers are only using e-mail and con-
mercial, health care and public c e n t ra t e d in the capital,
sectors. pervasiveness is embryonic.
Figure 5.1: State of the Internet in Uganda
February 2000
Ã
Dimension Value Dr
rÃvÃVthqhÃ
PervasivenessÃ
4Ã
Pervasiveness 1
3Ã
GeographicÃ
Geographic Dispersion 1 Sophisticationà 2Ã
of useà dispersionÃ
Sectoral Absorption 1 1Ã
Connectivity Infrastructure 1.5 0Ã
Organizational Infrastructure 3 Organizationalà SectoralÃ
Sophistication of Use 1 Infrastructureà absorptionÃ
TOTAL 8.5 Connectivity infrastructureÃ
Note: Values range from 0 (non-existent) to 4 (highly developed).
Source: ITU, based on methodology developed by the Mosaic Group.
41
Uganda Case Study
Geographic Dispersion is rated at Internet exchange. Most access is via
level 1, Single location. All ISPs are lo- dial-up but demand for high-speed
cated in the capital Kampala. There is leased lines is growing from heavy us-
no nationwide Internet dial prefix so ers keen to avoid telephone usage
calls to ISPs outside Kampala would charges. There is some ISDN penetra-
involve long distance charges. tion.
Sectoral Absorption is rated at The Organizational Infrastructure
level 1, Rare. The ranking is a func- is at level 3, Competitive. There is free
tion of the level of connectivity server entry to the ISP market. ISPs must be
ownership in business, government, licensed (for which there is a fee) and
health care and education, each of contribute up to two per cent of an-
which are rated as rare themselves. nual revenue to a telecom development
There is moderate connectivity at fund. While eight ISPs were licensed,
Makerere University and a small only four were in operation and of
amount of businesses and NGOs use those, only two have any significant
leased lines. In sectors such as health market presence. ISPs are allowed to
and government, connectivity is rare provide wireless leased lines to cus-
and limited to dial-up access. Few or- tomers (provided they hold the re-
ganizations operate their own servers. quired license). ISPs can establish their
own international links, again, provided
The Connectivity Infrastructure is they have a license for that activity.
at level 1.5, between Thin and Ex-
panded. There is a microwave national Sophistication of Use is at level 1,
backbone for the telephone network Minimal. The most popular application
that could be adapted for Internet use. is e-mail. Most other use is restricted
In addition, the two mobile operators to searching the web and downloading
are also building microwave networks. software or music. There are few so-
Bandwidth is limited to 64 kbps; it is a phisticated web sites and e-commerce
shame that resources are not com- is practically non-existent.
bined to build a single, high-speed,
fiber nationwide backbone. Interna- This framework has been applied in
tional connectivity, via a variety of case and questionnaire studies in sev-
VSAT and satellite links, is 1.2 Mbps eral other nations, including some in
up and 1.7 Mbs down. There is no the region. The dimension values for
Table 5.1: Internet diffusion in Uganda
Various estimates, and by comparison with other African nations
Date P GD SA CI OI SU Total Source
Uganda 2-00 1 1 1 1.5 3 1 8.5
Uganda 12-99 2 1 2 1 3 2 11 Q
Uganda 12-99 1 2 1 1 3 1 9 Q
Uganda 9-98 1 1 1 1 0 2 6 Q
Cameroon 12-99 3 2 1 1 3 2 12 Q
Kenya 12-99 2 1 2 1 3 2 11 Q
Madagascar 12-99 2 2 1 2 2 2 11 Q
Note: P: Pervaiseveness, GD: Geographic Dispersion, SA: Sectoral Absorption, CI: Connectivity Infra-
structure, OI: Organizational Infrastructure, SU: Sophistication of Use. Values range from 0 (lowest) to 4
(highest).
Source: M: national case study, MOSAIC Group (http://mosaic.unomaha.edu/gdi.html); Q: unvalidated
questionnaire result, Press, Larry, "Second Internet Diffusion Survey", OnTheInternet, Vol. 5, No. 6,
November/December, 1999 (http://som.csudh.edu/cis/lpress/gdiff/otidevnations.htm).
42
5. Conclusions
other nations in the region are shown 5.2.2 Universal access
in Table 5.1, for comparison with
Uganda. Very few Ugandans can afford to buy
ICT equipment and pay for related
5.2 Strategies and service costs. If ICT is to be available
recommendations for the majority of the countrys citi-
zens, it must be through community
5.2.1 Coordination access. Emphasis must therefore be
placed on developing public access
A number of ICT projects are taking points such as telecentres, cybercafés,
place with the assistance of bi-lat- etc. One way of doing this would be
eral38 and multi-lateral39 donor agen- to connect existing community loca-
cies and different sectors of Ugandas tions such as post offices, schools,
government. These include projects health centres, etc. to the Internet.
to improve connectivity in schools40 , Resources for this could come from
telemedicine, establishment of 1) partnership with the private sector,
telecentres 41 , etc. It has also been 2) license obligations for telecom op-
i n f e r r e d t h a t t h e r e a r e s e v e ral erators, 3) bi-lateral and multi-lateral
projects covering the formulation of assistance and, 4) the Rural Telecom-
IT policy and strategy.42 There is no munication Development Fund.
central repository covering all these
projects and little, if any, coordi- 1) An example of private sector
nation among them. This is unfor- partnership might be an arrange-
tunate since there will undoubtedly ment between Uganda Post Lim-
be duplication, a lack of resource ited (UPL) and an Internet
sharing and no coordinated strat- Service Provider (ISP) to provide
egy. As a result, many of these Internet access at village post
projects will operate in a vacuum offices.
and their long-term sustainability
is questionable. 2) Current license obligations call
for certain telecommunication
It is recommended to create a task operators to provide a specific
force to coordinate ICT policy and number of telecommunication
strategy43. The task force would con- access lines as well as public tele-
sist of relevant government agencies phones. This might be made
as well as representatives from the more specific by targeting public
private sector. It is recommended locations. For example, telecom
that the task force itself be led by a operators could be obligated to
key ministry dealing with ICT, such provide access lines (either dial-
as the MWHC. Activities of this task up or high speed) to a certain
force would include: number of post offices, schools,
libraries, hospitals or administra-
1) Compilation of a database of IT- tive offices each year. The
related projects; payphone obligations might be
extended to include telecentres
2) development of an inventory of or cybercafés.
computer and Internet availabil-
ity in government institutions; 3) As mentioned, there are a
number of ICT-related projects
3) formulation of an ICT strategy with multi-lateral and bi-lateral
and policy; assistance agencies. These
projects should be coordinated so
4) promotion of the strategy includ- that they align with the overall
ing ensuring that it has Parlia- goal of enhancing universal ac-
mentary approval; and, cess to ICT.
5) eventual implementation and re- 4) All licensed Telecom operators
view of the strategy. and ISPs are obligated to con-
43
Uganda Case Study
tribute one per cent of their rev- up Internet access to share revenues
enues to a Rural Telecommuni- derived from local call charges with
cation Development Fund. This the ISP. This would enable the ISP to
fund will be used to subsidize offer free Internet access, along the
telecom operators in rural areas, lines of the model pioneered by
which have been designated as Freeserve of the UK.46
uneconomic to serve by UTL and
MTN. The requirements might be 5.2.4 Naming
extended to support for ISPs who A private company, Uganda Online
wish to establish telecentres or (UOL), currently handles registration
cybercafés in rural areas. All li- for the .ug domain name. While there
censed operators who contribute is no reason to believe that UOL is not
to the fund should be free to pro- doing a good job, as a matter of prin-
pose and compete for projects to ciple, it would be better if administra-
utilize the funds resources. tion of the .ug domain name was
subject to a degree of regulatory su-
Affordable access to Internet is im- pervision and, if possible, competition.
portant for enhancing access. There This would also serve to avert possi-
are already certain instances where ble conflicts of interest. For that rea-
telecommunication operators are pro- son, it is proposed that a regulatory
viding discounted or free service to framework be established whereby
educational establishments.44 These registrars are licensed by the regula-
schemes should be formalized and ex- tor. Other firms may be encouraged
tended. They could be promoted, for to become registrars.
instance, in the corporate marketing
literature of the companies concerned. 5.2.5 Awareness and training
Although growing, awareness of the
The lack of personal computers is a
Internet is still limited in Uganda. Ef-
major barrier to Information Technol-
forts need to be made to promote the
ogy usage in Uganda. The price of a
benefits of the Internet. This can be
personal computer is unaffordable to
done by organizing seminars and trade
the majority of citizens. It is also a
shows as well as the government it-
major cost for many government or-
self providing more information on the
ganizations and small businesses. One
Internet to encourage its use. Further-
way of overcoming this deterrent is a
more, the ability to use the Internet
program to receive contributions of
effectively depends on having the
used computers from developed coun-
proper skills. Efforts should be made
tries. Some development projects
to develop computer skills by includ-
have contributed used computers to
ing this in school curricula. One way
Uganda. This could be formalized into
of doing this would be to make a free
a government-wide initiative with a
e-mail address and/or account avail-
local institution handling the admin-
able to all school children.
istrative details and coordinating dis-
tribution.45
5.2.6 Content
5.2.3 Internet-friendly tariffing Presently, most Internet use in Uganda
is to access information outside the
Since all ISPs are currently located in
country. This is understandable con-
Kampala, users outside the capital sidering that most users are busi-
must make expensive long-distance nesses needing external information
calls to access the Internet. It is rec- and the fact that limited local infor-
ommended that a nationwide dial code mation is available. However, for the
for Internet access be established Internet to be relevant and sustain-
whereby all Internet access is charged able in Uganda, effort needs to be de-
at local calling rates. All ISPs should voted to developing local content.
have equal access to calls to this dial Prime areas where this might be done
code. The regulator might also want include putting local newspapers, tour-
to encourage ISPs and telecom opera- ist information, directories and busi-
tors to collaborate by, for example, nesses, sports information, schools
requiring operators that provide dial- and universities online.
44
5. Conclusions
5.2.7 e-Government tem could be supplemented with
If the government is serious about ICT, weather forecasts, farm input prices,
then it needs to set an example. There etc. The project could be developed
is currently very little IT use in gov- in conjunction with the establishment
ernment and few government web of public access centres in rural towns
sites. There needs to be a govern- and funding might be sought from
ment-wide project to extend ICT and donor agencies such as the Food and
to bring all ministries and key sub- Agriculture Organization (FAO).48
units online. Government ministries
should learn by doing. By making the In terms of a longer-term strategy, a
efforts to develop their own web sites Uganda e-commerce committee
and Intranets, they will be better po- should be created, as part of the ICT
sitioned to advise others. task force, bringing together govern-
ment and industry to raise awareness,
5.2.8 e-Commerce develop policy and tackle legal and fi-
nancial issues.
Electronic commerce (e-commerce)
needs to be supported and developed
5.2.9 Peering, interconnection
so that Uganda can benefit from trade
and backbone
over the Internet. There are a variety
of e-commerce aspects that will re- Currently, the majority of Ugandas
quire different strategies. A promis- Internet traffic is routed outside the
ing area that could deliver short-term country, even if it is e-mail from one
results and provide a useful learning citizen to another, or if it involves brows-
experience is Ugandan businesses ing of local web sites. This situation is
selling to foreign customers.47 This wasteful of resources, especially expen-
can be developed and supported by sive international bandwidth. The
sensitizing Ugandan business about Uganda Communications Act gives the
the potential, working with the local regulator the responsibility to regulate
financial and courier industry to de- interconnection and access systems
velop fulfilment systems and promot- between operators and users of tel-
ing external awareness by, for ecommunication systems. The regula-
example, establishing a Uganda-wide tor should take a proactive role in
e-commerce web site. Another prom- encouraging local ISPs to interconnect
ising area is developing local content and to peer their traffic locally. One way
for delivery to Ugandans abroad who of doing this would be to invite a third
would be likely to have the requisite party not directly involved in supplying
tools (personal computers, Internet Internet access to establish a local ex-
access and credit cards) for access- change point. Uganda ISOC has looked
ing and paying for this information, into this issue and may be a possible
or making money transfers to family candidate.
members in the home country.
Telecom operators and ISPs should also
The country might also benefit from a be encouraged to collaborate to build a
visible pilot project. Since most citi- broadband national backbone. There is
zens do not have Internet access, currently little cooperation and hence
short-term business-to-Ugandan significant duplication of narrowband
consumer e-commerce would not infrastructure. Closer coordination could
have much impact. A more promising result in one fibre optic transmission
area might be the development of an network instead of multiple microwave
agricultural market information sys- networks.
tem by the government. Agricultural
traders are currently using cell phones Finally, the high cost of international
or e-mail to inquire about the price of Internet connection is passed on in the
their products in Kampala, suggest- form of higher end-user tariffs, dis-
ing that this could be a beneficial ap- couraging Internet diffusion. The gov-
plication. Online pricing information ernment may want to pursue this issue
would aid farmers in deciding whether by encouraging greater regional con-
to spend the time and money to bring nectivity and presenting its case at
their products to the market. The sys- appropriate international fora.
45
Uganda Case Study
5.2.10 Market research search groups. One goal would be to
There is very little systematic informa- provide this information online in or-
tion on IT in Uganda. The national sta- der to provide consumer choice and
tistical agency, the Uganda Bureau of to encourage investment in this sec-
Statistics collects no information on tor as well as to aid local and interna-
ICT.49 Telecom operators and ISPs pro- tional researchers in analyzing the role
vide limited data; this data is not sys- of ICT on development.
tematically published or aggregated.
Thus, there is only speculative data on, 5.2.11 Promoting dot coms
for example, the number of Internet us- A sustainable Ugandan Internet re-
ers and the number of personal com- quires a backbone of ICT companies
puters in the country, let alone break such as ISPs, off-shore software de-
downs by user groups (e.g., business, velopers, content producers, e-com-
education, health, etc.). merce companies and others. These
dot coms must be nurtured through
In order to develop an effective ICT favorable ICT policies. The govern-
policy, it is imperative to have a reli- ment has taken the right steps in this
able and timely set of information. It direction through zero tariffs on ICT
is recommended to develop a data- equipment and limited restrictions on
base of various indicators such as foreign investment. It needs to go fur-
number of computers in different min- ther, such as no or limited licensing
istries, business, educational estab- fees, tax breaks for ICT companies,
lishments, etc. This activity could be etc. It should also facilitate incubator
carried out as a project between the projects that aim to link budding do-
UBOS, the MWHC, the UCC, telecom mestic ICT businesses with foreign
operators, ISPs and local market re- investors and multilateral institutions.
38
For example of one such bi-lateral activity see the United States Agency for International Development
39
(USAID) Leland Initiative activities for Uganda at http://www.info.usaid.gov/leland/ugaindex.htm.
40
The ITU itself is involved in telecentre and telemedicine projects.
The World Bank has connected 10 schools as part of its World Links for Development Program. See
41
http://www.worldbank.org/worldlinks/english/html/uganda.htm.
For example see the Acacia Initiative which has developed two telecentres in Uganda
42
(http://www.acacia.or.ug/index.html).
For example apart from the MWHC request, there are supposedly similar projects between the World Bank
and Institute of Computer Studies at Makerere University, a UNESCO project with the Council of Science and
Technology and a Board of Investment project. At a grass roots level, both Uganda Connect and the Uganda
43
ISOC have been sensitizing policy makers about the relevance of ICT.
44
An ICT task force has recently been created in Uganda.
For example one of the mobile operators, Celtel, provides one hour of free Internet access per day to
45
selected secondary schools.
The island of Anguilla in the Caribbean has such a program called Anguilla Computes. The Anguilla National
Trust co-ordinates the program from the Anguilla end, working with a United States charity. One incentive for
46
the donors is that they obtain a tax break. See http://www.offshore.com.ai/anguilla_computes/.
47
See http://www.freeserve.co.uk/cserve/about.htm.
An embryonic example is the Uganda Post web site where stamps are marketed to overseas collectors. See
48
http://www.ugandapost.com/stamp_br.htm.
FAO considers information technology in agriculture of major importance. Dr. Louise Fresco, Assistant
Director-General of the Agriculture Department of FAO, described agriculture in the 21st century as an
information-intensive sector of the global economy, moving away from an artisanal, extensive, traditional
activity towards a more sophisticated, computerised sector
where access to information is a necessity and
49
not a luxury. See http://www.fao.org/news/2000/000606-e.htm.
The latest Statistical Abstract does contain some limited telecommunication data provided by Uganda
Telecom. It also contains import data on IT imports. However the latter data are by value and combine office
machines and automatic data processing equipment. Thus it is impossible to determine for example the
number of personal computers imported each year. Furthermore, the national census is likely to be delayed
until at least 2002.
46
Persons and organizations met
Persons and organizations met
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47
Uganda Case Study
Acronyms and Abbreviations
ICT Information and Communication Technology.
IFC International Finance Corporation. The private sector invest-
ment arm of The World Bank group.
ISDN Integrated Service Digital Network. Provides either two or thirty
64kbps virtual lines over a regular telephone line.
ISP Internet Service Provider.
IT Information Technology.
MCT Multipurpose Community Telecentre
MOWHC Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications. The ministry
responsible for telecommunications.
MTN Mobile Telephone Networks Uganda. The holder of the Second
National Operator license.
RCDF Rural Communications Development Fund.
SNO Second National Operator.
UCC Uganda Communications Commission. The telecommunication
regulator.
UG The two letter Internation Standardization Organization (ISO)
code for Uganda used for the Uganda domain name.
UNCTAD United Nations Conference for Trade and Development.
UOL Uganda On-Line. An Internet service company responsible for
Ugandas Internet domain name (.ug).
UPL Uganda Posts Limited.
Ush Uganda Shillings. The national currency in Uganda. The ex-
change rate per one United States dollar at June 30 2000
was 1600.
UTL Uganda Telecom Ltd. The incumbent telecom operator.
48
Bibliography
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49
Uganda Case Study
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50
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