There are a number of systems of communication in Uganda, including a system of telephony, radio and television broadcasts, internet, mail, and several newspapers. The use of phones and the internet in Uganda has rapidly increased in the last few years.
The postal service of for the protectorates of British East Africa and Uganda was called East Africa and Uganda Protectorates, and operated from April 1, 1903, to July 22, 1920. From 1948 to 1977, postal service in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda was provided by the East African Posts and Telecommunications Corporation. With the decolonization of Africa, Uganda took over control of its postal system, although until 1961 stamps from the colonial postal system were being issued alongside Uganda's stamps.
1990s to present
The Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation had a monopoly over Uganda's communications sector until the Uganda Communications Act was enacted in 1997.[1] The act created the Uganda Communications Commission, the current regulator of communications in Uganda.[1]
Telephone
A payphone is mounted on a bicycle in Uganda.A cell phone being charged from a car battery in Uganda.
As of June 2018[update], the telephone communications system was described by the CIA factbook as "developed through private partnerships", with "over 1,800 kilometres (1,118mi) of fiber optics", and 4G network available in most major cities and national parks, and 3G service available in second-tier urban centers. [2]As of 2004[update], Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL), Celtel and MTN Uganda Limited were the three telecommunications operators licensed by the Uganda Communications Commission.[1]
In 2018, there were 368,243 main telephone lines in use in Uganda, making Uganda one-hundred and eighth in terms of countries having the most main telephone lines. In 2016, there were 22.838 million mobile telephones in use, making Uganda fifty fourth in terms of countries having the most mobile telephones in use.[2] This was an increase from 2006 when there were 108,600 main telephone lines in use in Uganda, and from 2007 when there were 4.195 million mobile telephones in use.[2] By June 2018, the total number of mobile telephone users in Uganda, was 23.6 million, or 57.6% of the 41 million population, according to the Uganda Communications Commission.[3]
As of March 2010[update], telephone traffic within is carried by wire. Microwave radi relay, and radiotelephone communication stations are used in domestic telecommunications as well, and fixed and mobile cellular systems are used for short range traffic.[2]
In 2018 Uganda had 18.149 million Internet users, or 45.9% of the population (52nd in the world). This is up from 2.5 million users in 2008 (64th in the world).[2]
The first high speed commercial internet service in Uganda (and Africa) was constructed by international satellite internet backbone provider NSN Network Services of Avon, CO and its Ugandan ISP client, Infomail Uganda Ltd. This service was switched online on the morning of August 5, 1995.
Infomail was linked by satellite from Kampala to NSN's United States east-coast satellite gateway at the USEI teleport in New Jersey and from there linked by a leased terrestrial connection to NSN's satellite gateway and peering routers which were co-located at the Giga-ring at MAE-WEST, at NASA's jet propulsion laboratory in California.
The actual satellite linking the two continents was leased by NSN from the Russian Space Communications Corporation (RSCC), a C-Band satellite in geostationary orbit over the mid-Atlantic Ocean.
Infomail Uganda began operations with 16 customer dial up lines served by 16 USR 19,200 baud rack mounted modems. A Sun Sparc “Pizzabox” Server on-site in Kampala managed all local internet services and user accounting.
The original satellite link in Kampala used a 5-meter Andrew antenna. The initial link speed was 64kbit/s, almost immediately upgraded to 1.5Mbit/s in January 2006 when the RF amplifiers in Kampala were upgraded from 5 Watts to 20 Watts.
Infomail Uganda Ltd was founded and managed by Dr. Jean Paul Minet in partnership with Kampala radio broadcaster Patrick Quarcoo (Capital FM) and William Pike, editor/publisher of The Nation newspaper. The backbone satellite system was designed and assembled / installed in Kampala by NSN's VP of Engineering Bill Sepmeier, NSN co-founder and engineer John Morris, and local Kampala engineer Terah Kagwah.
NSN was sold in 1997 to JACOR/Clear Channel Communications and its remaining network operations in Denver were acquired by LinkUp Communications in 2021.
By the end of 2006, Uganda had 18 Internet service providers. Mobile network operators provide internet services to Ugandans alongside fixed-line internet providers.
MTN was the first mobile operator to offer Internet services in Uganda via GPRS, but Orange (France Telecom) was the first to popularize mobile Internet by offering 3G services after joining the market in 2009. Orange eventually divested from many anglophone markets in Africa, and their Uganda operating company was purchased by Africell Uganda in 2014.[6]
MTN later deployed 3G mobile internet services following decreasing revenues in traditional voice and SMS services. Warid, Zain, UTL, and others later followed suit.[7] Vodafone later entered the market as Uganda's first MVNO.[8]
Fixed-line internet providers have also increased in Uganda. These mainly offer premium dedicated internet services to business customers. Some of the notable ISPs for business include Echotel Uganda formerly iWayAfrica, Roke Telkom, Datanet, Liquid Telecom, Simbanet, Gilat, BCS Uganda, C-Squared Uganda, Seacom UG, among others and this infrastructure is complimented with an exchange point UIXP and a carrier neutral Datacentre Raxio Uganda. These offer high speed internet services for enterprise services with speeds ranging from 0.5Mbit/s to 10Gbit/s offering 4G Satellite, LTE, Wimax, Microwave, Fibre connectivity solutions.[9]
In December 2015, Google launched its first wi-fi network in Kampala.[10]
Internet censorship and surveillance
In September 2009 the OpenNet Initiative found little or no evidence of Internet filtering in all four areas (political, social, conflict/security, and Internet tools) for which it tests.[11]
Though Uganda has made great technological strides in recent years, the country still faces a number of challenges in obtaining affordable, reliable Internet bandwidth. This, rather than a formal government-sponsored filtering regime, is the major obstacle to Internet access. Just prior to the presidential elections in February 2006, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) blocked the anti-government Web site RadioKatwe in the only internationally reported case of Internet filtering in Uganda to that date.[11]
In July 2018, Uganda instituted a tax on "over the top" messaging and voice services, which includes social networks. Users must may a fee of USh200/= (approx US$0.06) daily in order to use these services. The stated purpose of the law is to provide additional government revenue, and to control "gossip" being spread over these platforms. VPN services have also been blocked, after they were used by citizens to circumvent the tax.[13]Amnesty International condemned the tax as being "a clear attempt to undermine the right to freedom of expression".[14][15] Internet usage fell significantly after the tax was introduced.[16]
The Uganda Broadcasting Corporation is the public broadcasting station. The 2004 Uganda Broadcasting Corporation Act stated that the UBC should be funded by the levying of a television licence fee.[18] Collection of a licence fee set at 20,000/= (around €8.40 or US$10.80) started in 2005.[18] However, collection was subsequently halted by President Yoweri Museveni.[18] There has since been pressure to reinstate the licence fee to maintain UBC's independence.[18]
Blogs are increasingly being used as a medium of communication in Uganda.[20] Affordable data rates, increasing internet penetration and free blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger are making internet users turn to blogging platforms to creatively express themselves, comment on current affairs, inform the public among other reasons.[21]
Communications in Belgium are extensive and advanced. Belgium possesses the infrastructure for both mobile and land-based telecom, as well as having significant television, radio and internet infrastructure. The country code for Belgium is BE.
Telecommunications in Burkina Faso include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Telecommunications in the Dominican Republic include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Telecommunications in Ghana include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
India's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world by number of telephone users with 1179.49 million subscribers as on 31 January 2021. It has one of the lowest call tariffs in the world enabled by mega telecom operators and hyper-competition among them. India has the world's second-largest Internet user-base with 747.41 million broadband internet subscribers.
The primary regulator of telecommunications in Malaysia is the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC). It issues licenses under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, the Postal Services Act 2012 and the Digital Signature Act 1997.
The People's Republic of China possesses a diversified communications system that links all parts of the country by Internet, telephone, telegraph, radio, and television. The country is served by an extensive system of automatic telephone exchanges connected by modern networks of fiber-optic cable, coaxial cable, microwave radio relay, and a domestic satellite system; cellular telephone service is widely available, expanding rapidly, and includes roaming service to foreign countries. Fiber to the x infrastructure has been expanded rapidly in recent years.
Telecommunications in Saudi Arabia have evolved early in the Kingdom since the establishment the Directorate of Post, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT) in 1926.
Communications in Somalia encompasses the communications services and capacity of Somalia. Telecommunications, internet, radio, print, television and postal services in the nation are largely concentrated in the private sector. Several of the telecom firms have begun expanding their activities abroad. The federal government operates two official radio and television networks, which exist alongside a number of private and foreign stations. Print media in the country is also progressively giving way to news radio stations and online portals, as internet connectivity and access increases. In 2012, a National Communications Act was also approved by Cabinet members, and 2 October 2017, the president of Somalia Finally signed the National Communications Law, and became the official Law that regulated the ICT industry. Under that Law, National Communications Authority (NCA) of the federal Republic of Somalia has been established, with board of directors and a general manager. Somalia currently is ranked first in Africa for most affordable mobile data per gigabyte and 7th in the world.
Telecommunications in Tanzania include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet available in mainland Tanzania and the semiautonomous Zanzibar archipelago.
Telecommunications in Albania include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Telecommunications in Iraq include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet as well as the postal system.
Telecommunications in Australia refers to communication in Australia through electronic means, using devices such as telephone, television, radio or computer, and services such as the telephony and broadband networks. Telecommunications have always been important in Australia given the "tyranny of distance" with a dispersed population. Governments have driven telecommunication development and have a key role in its regulation.
The Internet in the United States grew out of the ARPANET, a network sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense during the 1960s. The Internet in the United States in turn provided the foundation for the worldwide Internet of today.
Telecommunications in Ivory Coast include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Uganda Telecommunications Corporation Limited (UTCL), also (UTel), is an information and communication technology network company in Uganda owned by the government of Uganda. UTel acquired the assets and some of the liabilities of the defunct Uganda Telecom Limited (UTL) which was also owned by the Ugandan government. UTL was previously in receivership which it entered after the Libyan company that owned about 69 percent shares abandoned the investment in 2017.
Africell Uganda, whose full legal name was Africell Uganda Limited (AUL), was an information and communication technology network company in Uganda. It was the third-largest telecommunications company in the country, by customer numbers. However, the company closed all its businesses in Uganda in 2021 based on a careful assessment of the long-term commercial outlook for the business.
Airtel Uganda Limited is a mobile communications and information technology services provider in Uganda. The company also offers mobile funds transfer and banking services known as Airtel Payments Bank. Airtel Uganda Limited is a subsidiary of Airtel Africa PLC.
TelOne Zimbabwe is a parastatal telecommunications company owned by the Zimbabwe government headquartered in Harare's Central Business District. It is the largest telecom entity in Zimbabwe and has the second largest fixed-line network in Southern Africa after Telkom South Africa. The parastatal is Zimbabwe's sole fixed landline services provider.
References
1 2 3 4 Kyeyune, H. (21 May 2004). CASE STUDY: UGANDA (Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics Radiocommunications Unit New Radiocommunication Technologies for Information and Communication Technologies in Developing African Countries).
↑ Von Kevin Zawacki (January 2017). "Inside An Internet Shutdown (Interview)"(Translated from the Original German). Statusbericht zur Internetgesundheit. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
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