Bolt is fully operational in Kampala, and now the e-hailing company has launched in Gulu city as part of moves to provide safe and affordable transport right across Uganda. Bolt is charging from UGX 2,000 for boda-boda rides and UGX 8,000 for Bolt base.

Users will be able to access Bolt’s wide range of riding categories such as Bolt Boda (one rider), Bolt Base (up to four riders), and Bolt XL, which takes up to six riders, following the launch on 27^th August 27, 2021 via a virtual event.

Speaking at the event, Moses Mugerwa, the Operations Manager Bolt Uganda, said one of Bolt’s main goals apart from providing value-for-money transport services countrywide is creating employment opportunities.

“Transportation is a significant factor in everyone’s day-to-day life. With our launch in Gulu, we aim to provide safe and quality transportation that’s easily accessible to anyone who needs it. We see this move being beneficial not only to customers here in the North but also as a way to help combat the rising rates of youth unemployment in the region.”

Recently the company revamped its App to make its services more customer-centric.  As part of Bolt’s drive to boost employment in Uganda, it has also assured its partners that the company constantly evaluates its operations to offer the best earnings on its e-hailing platform.

The emergency response button (SOS button) for passengers is also integrated into the app, allowing riders to easily connect to a 24/7 response service team if they are involved in any emergency while on a Bolt ride.

Bolt began operating in Uganda in 2017. The company has continued to supplement the government’s efforts to close the employment gap and commit to their partnership with drivers in working to improve the experience for and with drivers. 

Airtel Uganda has released a statement where it has revealed that their data sharing service known as “Tugabane” will no longer be available on three (3) of its data products like “Freaky Friday”, “Freaky Holiday” and Daily data bundles.

Tugabane enabled a user with an Airtel internet package to simultaneously use his or her package with another person irrespective of the person’s location within the country, and it usually came in handy when one intended to gift another with internet.

The service will no longer be available starting 21st July 2021.

“Kindly be informed that effective Wednesday 21st July 2021, the Tugabane service will no longer be available on Freaky Friday, Freaky Holiday and Daily data bundles”, reads the statement from the management of the second largest telecommunication company in Uganda.

The rest of the packages will not be affected by the cancellation.

“Please be advised only daily, freaky Friday and freaky holiday bundles were exempted from tugabane the rest qualify”, reads a response to a querry made to the post. This implies that monthly, weekly or other similar bundles that are not captured under the selected packages will be able to use the service.

Not less than 24 hours had passed before the intended target of 100 signatures was almost achieved in a petition that was initiated by the Uganda Consortium on Corporate Accountability (UCCA).

By press time, the petition has secured 94 signatures that are jointly calling for transparency of internet data services and charges by telecommunication companies in Uganda. The companies specifically targeted or mentioned in the petition include Airtel, MTN and Africell “among others”.

In the description of the petition, UCCA references the newly passed Excise Duty (Amendment), 2021, an amendment that removed the controversial Over the Top Tax (OTT), while introducing a new 12% tax.

“Recently, the Government of Uganda introduced a new 12% tax on the price of internet data”, the petition reads, and as a result, “…many Ugandan internet consumers have noticed a spike in the rate at which their internet data bundles run out”.

While the companies are required to impose the tax in compliance with the legal obligations, the companies, for example Airtel, have released statements to show that they would only impose the tax on business packages, as they consume the burden on the rest of the packages, (except for UTL that wholly imposed the tax on all internet data purchases).

The fear of the “petitioner” and the signatories to the petition is that there are repercussions on the internet data of users from the companies that have opted to levy the tax selectively or not made any statement regarding the implementation of the tax.

“(The implementation of the tax) suggests that the telecom companies are supplying their consumers with less data volumes than they are purporting to do, in order to offset the cost of the new tax”.

The petitioner believes that the above allegations are unlawful and are an abuse of the consumer protection laws of Uganda and are using the signatures for the petition to “call(s) upon the Uganda Communications Commission”(UCC), the regulator of telecommunication companies in Uganda to “investigate the activities, services and charges of these companies with the supply of internet data volumes, and to also compel them to come out” clearly on the way they are implementing the new law.

It would also be able to enable consumers to know how the money they pay is being used, and to be able to make “well-informed decisions” on the competitive options available for data.

There is growing support for the petition with people signing the petition expressing how “It’s critical that something gets done before it runs out of hand”, as corruption has already killed Ugandans more than it has for COVID – 19, the companies just got greedier, data being abnormal since 1st Jul 2021 among other feelings.

The ability to share Snapchat like disappearing stories or WhatsApp like status updates on Twitter will no longer possible after 3rd August following an announcement by the micro – blogging platform to discontinue the feature from its platform.

Fleets, similar to other social media platforms like WhatApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Facebook allows users to share messages, both text, pictures, gifs and videos on their profiles that would later disappear after the lapse of 24 hours.

The feature was introduced on Twitter in March 2020 later than the other platforms did, all mimicking snapchat, and a year and plus later, the company has stated that “Starting August 3, Fleets will no longer be available”.

In a thread, @TwitterSupport shared the justification for the discontinuation being that the feature did not achieve its intended objective. “We had planned for Fleets to help people feel comfortable joining the conversation in a low – pressure way”, its tweets read, and added that it has turned out that “Fleets were used mainly by those Tweeting the most”, however, it indicated that the company will be looking other ways “for people to share on Twitter”.

The company has further revealed that it would be focusing on new ways to enable people to shares, with “no plans of slowing down”.