With an estimated population of 34 million (approximately 67% literate), Uganda has five telecom operators, all of them subsidiaries of major multinational telecom companies: MTN, Orange, Uganda Telecom, Warid and Airtel. The country’s mobile penetration stands at 33.5 per cent, with 10.5 million telephone subscribers at the end of 2010. Uganda’s teledensity rose from 0.28 percent in 1998, to 4.2 percent in 2004, 12 per cent in 2006, 20 per cent in early 2008, and 22 percent by July 2008.
Mobile Internet connectivity is the dominant form of internet access in Uganda. Total internet subscribers jumped from 337,648 (310, 058 mobile and 27,590 fixed) in June 2009 to 541,000 (510,000 mobile and 31,000 fixed) in the same period of 2010. An estimated 3.5 million (approximately 10 per cent of the population) were internet users.
Uganda has East Africa’s pioneer policy on universal access. The main objective of the Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF) established in 2001 were to provide access to basic communications services within a reasonable distance to all people in Uganda, leverage investment into rural communications development, and promote ICT usage.
Programme Area Commissioned by end 2009/10 Under Installation brought forward from 2009/10 Planned for 2010/11 Expected total by end 2010/11
Internet POPs 76 0 0 76
Internet Cafes 63 43 0 106
ICT Training Centres 67 1 10 78
Multi-Purpose Community Telecentres 13 0 0 13
Public Pay Phones 2,749 600 750 4099
District Web Portals 78 0 0 78
Postal Tele-Centres & post office expansion 45 0 0 45
School ICT Labs 208 340 160 708
Health ICT Facilities 43 131 0 174
GSM Sites 90 0 0 90
Content distribution support 1 5 100 106
Local Governance 1 116 339 456
Unique Projects i.e. Adv Tele-Medicine, Post Code, and Broad Band 1 5 0 6
Total 3,435 1,231 1369 6035
Few Ugandans participate in civic matters, thereby undermining efforts to promote and monitor democracy and transparency in the conduct of public affairs. This has created fertile ground for poor service delivery and for corruption to flourish. For various reasons, a big number of Ugandans never take part in any community activities or debates on governance, and a great number do not register to vote. Many who are registered voters often never cast their votes. For instance, only 59% of registered voters cast their ballots in the February 2011 presidential election. The proliferation of ICT however presents an opportunity to those who are otherwise indifferent to civic affairs to play an active role. Indeed, there is evidence that ICT is being used to support engagement between the leaders at various levels and their subjects.
