The Minister of ICT and National Guidance was yesterday in a Cabinet resolution meeting with the President given a go-ahead to give a “No Objection” to Uganda Communications Commission to renew the license of MTN Uganda with new stringent terms in pursuit of the Broadband Policy Goals.

UCC has been conducting evaluation processes of MTN Uganda Limited’s application for renewal of their license and the matter had since been moved to the cabinet to deliberate. UCC had put the matter before the public record at the Commission. However, yesterday, the cabinet was briefed and noted the process of the renewal of MTN Uganda’s Operator Licence for the Period of 10 years.

Cabinet also tasked the Minister of ICT & UCC to work with the Attorney General to ensure that the operator license for MTN has clear terms & Conditions that aim at ensuring the quality of service.

While speaking at the Media Centre today, Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Mr Frank Tumwebaze revealed; “It was further noted that when the then Minister Of Works & Communications issued the first license to MTN in 1998, the challenges then were different. The Concern then was more about telephony penetration which MTN & other operators helped achieve.”

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) conducted a public hearing where MTN Uganda Limited and any member of the public with a legitimate interest in this matter may be allowed to substantiate their comments or objections to the application. This came after MTN Uganda has been in the limelight for comments about poor service delivery and increased complaints from customers.

“The License conditions then were not stringent enough about the quality of service obligations as demand and uptake of voice & data service was low, The concerns of today are mainly about reliability & affordability of services.”, the Minster further noted.

Tanzania’s leading digital lifestyle company Tigo, has today heightened the availability of ultra-fast digital experience for data customers in the country with the launch of the 4G+ network.

The 4G+ network further distinguishes Tigo as the mobile operator that innovates with customers in mind and provides better and more efficient services that address the dynamic needs of consumers across the country.

“The launch of 4G+ is in line with Tigo’s transformative journey and the company’s objective of offering customers the best digital experience. We are setting the pace among mobile service providers and catapulting technology to the highest heights of digital offering in the country,’ Tigo’s Chief Technical and Information Officer, Jerome Albou told journalists while launching the Tigo 4G+ network in Dar es Salaam.

Tigo customers can now have access to the best and most reliable digital experience and ultra-fast downloads at normal internet bundle rates. All that is required is a 4G+ enabled smartphone.

Tigo’s tested and advanced 4G+ technology offers an opportunity to advance digital adoption in Tanzania; from the scaling-up of faster digital services and the provision of access to the very high-speed Internet, voice and services that directly resonate with the changing lifestyles. ‘We are proud that with the launch of the 4G+ network, our company has again put Tanzania on a global telecommunications map. We are now competing with the developed nations who are currently rolling out 5G technology. The latest generation of mobile communication technology in Tanzania denote that the full possibilities of the internet are now opened to our customers’ Tigo’s Chief Commercial Officer, Tarik Boudiaf noted.

While Tigo’s fast 4G network reaches speeds of up to 60Mbps, Tigo’s new 4G+ is twice as fast, reaching speeds of up to 120Mbps. This is a shared speed among subscribers latching in a specific site and the total speed is distributed among them.

Besides boasting the biggest 4G network that covers 22 cities across the country, the Tigo 4G+ network has now been rolled out in five main cities of the country namely; Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Morogoro, Moshi and Dodoma with ongoing expansion to other cities.

In enhancing and expanding digital adoption in Tanzania, Tigo was among the first mobile companies to roll out technologies such as 3G and 4G – which is currently the biggest 4G network in the country. Tigo was also first to launch a smartphone with a Swahili menu, the first Facebook service in Swahili which opened up digital access and adoption in Tanzania to the majority of the population who use Swahili as the primary language of instruction.

The Cabinet of the Republic of Uganda sat on Monday September 10, 2018 at State House Entebbe under the Chairmanship of H.E the President and passed a set of resolutions among which included the approval of borrowing up to a tune of over $100m for CCTV Cameras across the country, the Minister of ICT Frank Tumwebaze disclosed in a press brief this morning.

The government has approved the proposal to borrow up to US$104,022,277 from Standard Chartered Bank to finance the National CCTV Network Expansion Project. This comes after an increase in crime in the city which the president believes will be greatly solved once the CCTV cameras are put in place.

While addressing journalists this morning at the Uganda Media Center in the country’s capital Kampala, Mr Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister of ICT & National Guidance who also doubles as the Spokesperson of the Government of Uganda noted that; “ The Cabinet that met with the President resolved that the proposal to borrow US$ 104,022,277 from Standard Chartered Bank to finance the National CCTV Network Expansion Project has been approved”

The said money that is slated to be borrowed will be used to among others; Design and build the main Command and Control Centre, Mobile Command and Control Centres, and Regional Command and Control centres.

It shall also be used for Video surveillance through the installation of CCTV Cameras across the country, Installation of integrated communication platforms, Integrated case management systems (face recognition software, DNA, among other systems), Development of data centre with disaster recovery sites, Installation of required network infrastructure, Training of staff in all the relevant system and Operation and maintenance of the system.

Umeme Limited has today announced a Ushs12.7 dividend pay-out per ordinary share to all its shareholders for the six months ended 30 June 2018. A top official said the total interim dividend pay-out of Ushs20.6 billion was based on the stellar performance of the company over the period of January to June 2018.

The dividend subject to deduction of withholding tax, where applicable, will be paid on or about 11 January 2019 to shareholders in the books of the company at the close of business on 20 December 2018.

Commenting on the results, Umeme Managing Director, Mr. Selestino Babungi said the sector was on a steady growth after the demand by industrial consumers grew by 8.6%, up from the 7.5% registered in the same period the previous year.

“In simple terms, the sector is growing. Maximum demand grew just slightly under 600MW. The main drivers are the large industrial customers who are registering high annual growth rates of up to 13%,” Babungi explained.

He noted that the industrial demand for electricity was in line the GDP growth, which is projected to grow at 6% in the 2018/2019 financial, up from 3.9% in 2017, adding that GDP growth goes hand-in-hand with electricity demand.

Babungi pointed out that the setting up of National Cement Company and the new Hima Cement plant, the two new cement plants in Tororo and the expansion of Tororo Cement Industries, all of which were fully commissioned, boosted the industrial sales.

“Existing industrial consumers like Coca-Cola and Roofings have also boosted their production. The Buy Uganda, Build Uganda drive is helping a lot. The South Sudan and DR Congo markets have also reopened. Commercial use of electricity is fundamental. Industrial use is essential in up taking the increasing generation capacity,” he explained.

The giant utility also registered progress in the energy loss reduction targets in the six months of 2018 to 16.7% compared to 17.5% for the same period in 2017.
“We focused the half-year loss-reduction efforts on commercial losses and are in dialogue with the Electricity Regulatory Authority on specific approvals required for technical loss reduction investments,” Babungi said.

He disclosed that for these efforts, delegations from Nigeria and Mozambique were expected to visit the utility to benchmark on how they are doing this when the regional utilities are struggling to tame their losses figures.

The company has also maintained an average collection rate of 99.2% over the last three years, while the revenue collection rate for the period under review stood at 102.8%, attributed to the rollout of prepaid metering, recoveries of past unpaid bills, timely payment by industrial customers, government agencies and provision of payment systems available 24 hours per day.

During the first half of 2018, the company added up to 82,373 customers to the grid, increasing our total customers to a record 1,207,664. The firm targets to add a total of 200,000 new customers to the grid by end of 2018. Customers on prepaid metering increased to 76.3% of the customer base. Prepaid revenue from these customers represents 24% of the total revenue.

The Full report from of Review of the Results for the Six Months Ended 30 June 2018 can be viewed or downloaded here