Walter Wafula
6 October 2008
Dr Hamadou Toure the Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), has lauded Uganda for excelling in the communications revolution in Africa.
ITU is an international organisation where governments and the private sector coordinate global telecommunications networks and services.
Dr Toure particularly commended the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) for transforming the communications sector in Uganda while speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Kampala, on October 2nd. UCC is the regulatory and licensing body of the communications sector.
Since its establishment in 1998, the commission has witnessed explosive growth in investment and usage of information and communication technologies. Annual investment in the sector has increased from $10 million then to about $85 million annually.
The number of licensed operational private telecommunication companies has also increased to four, from two. Yet, the number of mobile subscribers has increased to about 8 million from about 300,000 in 2001. The commission has also increased public internet points of presence nationwide to 76 districts from less than five, ten years ago.
Dr Toure attributed the expansion of the communications sector in Uganda to good communications policies which began with the establishment of UCC.
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