View source for Communications in Uganda

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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
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.

== History ==
[[File:East Africa Uganda five rupee.jpg|thumb|right|East Africa and Uganda Protectorates 1912 five rupees stamp]]

=== 1900–1970 ===
{{see also|Postage stamps and postal history of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika|Postage stamps and postal history of East Africa and Uganda Protectorates}}

The postal service of for the protectorates of British East Africa and Uganda was called [[East Africa and Uganda Protectorates]], and operated from 1 April 1903, to 22 July 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–present===
The Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation had a monopoly over Uganda's communications sector until the Uganda Communications Act was enacted in 1997.<ref name="1R"/> The act created the [[Uganda Communications Commission]], the current regulator of communications in Uganda.<ref name ="1R">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).</ref>

==Telephone==
[[File:Kiwanja uganda bike.jpg|thumb|right|A payphone is mounted on a bicycle in Uganda.]]
[[File:Kiwanja uganda charging 1.jpg|thumb|right|A cell phone being charged from a car battery in Uganda.]]
{{See also |Telephone numbers in Uganda}}
{{As of| June 2018}}, the telephone communications system was described by the CIA factbook as "developed through private partnerships", with "over {{convert|1800|km|0}} of fiber optics", and 4G network available in most major cities and national parks, and 3G service available in second-tier urban centers. 
<ref name="2R">{{cite web|access-date=29 June 2018 | url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/uganda/ |title=The World Factbook: Uganda: Communications: Telephone System |date=29 June 2018 | 
publisher=[[The World Factbook]] |author=Central Intelligence Agency |location=Washington, DC}}</ref> {{As of| 2004}}, [[Uganda Telecom Limited]] (UTL), Celtel and MTN Uganda Limited were the three telecommunications operators licensed by the Uganda Communications Commission.<ref name="1R"/>

In 2018 there were 368,243 main telephone lines in use in [[Uganda]], making Uganda 108th in the world. In 2016, there were 23 million mobile telephones in use; 54th in the world.<ref name="2R"/> 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&nbsp;million mobile telephones in use.<ref name="2R"/> By June 2018, the total number of mobile telephone users in Uganda, was 23.6&nbsp;million, or 57.6% of the 41&nbsp;million population, according to the [[Uganda Communications Commission]].<ref name="3R">{{cite news|access-date=29 June 2018 | url=https://af.reuters.com/article/ugandaNews/idAFL8N1TV3TZ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629170739/https://af.reuters.com/article/ugandaNews/idAFL8N1TV3TZ | url-status=dead | archive-date=29 June 2018 | title=Uganda telecom operators to start charging social media tax |date=29 June 2018 |work=[[Reuters|Reuters Africa]] |
last=Elias Biryabarema |first=and Jane Merriman | location=Johannesburg}}</ref>

{{As of| March 2010}} 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.<ref name="2R"/>

{{As of| March 2010}} international telephone communication is catered for by an [[Intelsat]] and an [[Inmarsat]] [[satellite earth station]], along with [[analog signal|analog]] links to [[Kenya]] and [[Tanzania]]. The international calling code is 256.<ref name="2R"/>

==Internet==

The [[top-level domain]] for Uganda is "[[.ug]]".<ref name="2R"/>

In 2018 Uganda had 18.149&nbsp;million Internet users, or 45.9% of the population (52nd in the world). This is up from 2.5&nbsp;million users in 2008 (64th in the world).<ref name="2R"/>

In 2012, Uganda had 36,332 [[List of countries by number of broadband Internet subscriptions|fixed broadband subscriptions]] (119th in the world) or 0.1% of the population (165th in the world)<ref name="FixedBroadbandITUDynamic2012">[http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ICTEYE/Reporting/DynamicReportWizard.aspx "Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726064920/http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ICTEYE/Reporting/DynamicReportWizard.aspx |date=26 July 2019 }}, Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE, [[International Telecommunication Union]]. Retrieved on 29 June 2013.</ref> and 2.5&nbsp;million [[List of countries by number of broadband Internet subscriptions|wireless broadband subscriptions]] (58th in the world) or 7.6% of the population (99th in the world).<ref name="MobleBroadbandITUDynamic2012">[http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ICTEYE/Reporting/DynamicReportWizard.aspx "Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726064920/http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ICTEYE/Reporting/DynamicReportWizard.aspx |date=26 July 2019 }}, Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE, [[International Telecommunication Union]]. Retrieved on 29 June 2013.</ref>

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 5 August 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 64&nbsp;kbit/s, almost immediately upgraded to 1.5&nbsp;Mbit/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 provider]]s. 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.<ref name="6R">{{cite web|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/africell-completes-acquisition-of-orange-uganda-reaches-11-million-active-subscribers-282900521.html |title=Africell Completes Acquisition of Orange Uganda, Reaches 11 Million Active Subscribers |author=Press Release |publisher=[[PR Newswire]] Quoting [[Africell|Africell Limited]] |date=17 November 2014 | location=New York City |access-date=29 June 2018}}</ref>

MTN later deployed 3G mobile internet services following decreasing revenues in traditional voice and SMS services. Warid, Zain, UTL, and others later followed suit.<ref name="7R">{{cite web| url=http://www.dignited.com/10722/smart-telecom-uganda-internet-bundles-show-new-warid-data-services/ |title=Smart Telecom Uganda internet bundles show it's the new Warid for data services | access-date=29 June 2018 |date=9 November 2014 |last=Okwii | first=David |publisher=Dignited.com |location=Kampala}}</ref> Vodafone later entered the market as Uganda's first MVNO.<ref name="8R">{{cite web|access-date=29 June 2018 | url=http://www.dignited.com/10923/vodafone-uganda-joins-stiff-battle-slice-telecom-pie/ |title=Vodafone Uganda joins the stiff battle for a slice of the telecom pie |date=18 November 2014 |
last=Odeke |first=Onyait |publisher=Dignited.com | location=Kampala}}</ref>

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 0.5&nbsp;Mbit/s to 10&nbsp;Gbit/s offering 4G Satellite, LTE, Wimax, Microwave, Fibre connectivity solutions.<ref name="9R">{{cite web| url=http://www.dignited.com/11276/5-worthwhile-ugandan-internet-service-providers-isp-small-business-owners/ |title=5 Worthwhile Ugandan Internet Service providers (ISP) for Small business owners |access-date=29 June 2018 |date=12 December 2014 | last=Okwii | first=David |publisher=Dignited.com | location=Kampala}}</ref>

In December 2015 Google launched its first wi-fi network in Kampala.<ref name="10R">{{cite web|access-date=29 June 2018 | date=4 December 2015 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35000544 |title=Google launches wi-fi network in Kampala, Uganda |publisher=[[British Broadcasting Corporation]] | author=BBC Staff |location=London}}</ref>

===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.<ref name="11R">{{cite web| access-date=29 June 2018 | date=30 September 2009 |author=OpenNet Initiative | url=https://opennet.net/research/profiles/uganda |
publisher=[[OpenNet Initiative|Opennet.net]] |title=No Evidence of Government Internet Filtering in All Four Areas of Testing in Uganda}}</ref>

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.<ref name="11R"/>

During the [[Parliament of Uganda|2016 parliamentary elections]], the government ordered the blocking of social media for 72 hours (18–21 February).<ref name="12R">{{cite web |url=https://internethealthreport.org/v01/de/stories/inside-an-internet-shutdown/ |title=Inside An Internet Shutdown (Interview) |format=Translated from the Original German | publisher=Statusbericht zur Internetgesundheit |author=Von Kevin Zawacki |date=January 2017 |access-date=29 June 2018}}</ref>

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 [[Ugandan shilling|USh&nbsp;]]{{shilingi|200}} (approx [[United States dollar|US$]]0.06) daily 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. [[Virtual private network|VPN service]]s have also been blocked, after they were used by citizens to [[Tax evasion|circumvent the tax]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://dispatch.ug/2018/07/01/telecom-companies-will-block-vpns-says-mutabazi/|title=Telecom companies will block VPNs, says Mutabazi|work=Dispatch.ug|date=1 July 2018|access-date=2018-07-04|language=en-US|archive-date=2019-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008223251/https://dispatch.ug/2018/07/01/telecom-companies-will-block-vpns-says-mutabazi/|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Amnesty International]] condemned the tax as being "a clear attempt to undermine the right to freedom of expression".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-44682345|title=Anger at Uganda's tax on social media|date=2 July 2018|work=BBC News|access-date=2018-07-03|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://time.com/5328463/uganda-social-media-tax/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703211609/http://time.com/5328463/uganda-social-media-tax/|url-status=dead|archive-date=3 July 2018|title=Uganda Just Rolled Out a 5-Cent Daily Tax to Access Social Media|magazine=Time|language=en|access-date=2018-07-04}}</ref> Internet usage fell significantly after the tax was introduced.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://qz.com/africa/1553468/uganda-social-media-tax-decrease-internet-users-revenues/|title=Uganda's social media tax has led to a drop in internet and mobile money users|last=Dahir|first=Abdi Latif|website=Quartz Africa|date=19 February 2019 |language=en|access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref>

In January 2021 the government ordered a complete [[Internet outage|Internet shutdown]] during the presidential election, that lasted 4 days.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.accessnow.org/the-world-is-watching-uganda-elections/|title="No matter what they do, the world is watching": Some Ugandans are back online after internet shutdown during presidential election|website=Access Now|date=20 January 2021 |language=en|access-date=2024-09-23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ooni.org/post/2021-uganda-general-election-blocks-and-outage/|title=Uganda: Data on internet blocks and nationwide internet outage amid 2021 general election|website=OONI|date=22 January 2021 |language=en|access-date=2024-09-23}}</ref>

== Postal Service ==
{{further|Posta Uganda}}
{{As of| 2004}}, Uganda Post Limited was the only postal service licensed by the [[Uganda Communications Commission]] in Uganda.<ref name="1R"/> {{As of| 2010}}, Uganda Post Limited had changed its name to [[Posta Uganda]].<ref name="13R">{{cite web| url=http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/688334-864638-c9dqviz/index.html |title=Posta to sack 100 employees: Yasiin Mugerwa |date=19 February 2010 |access-date=29 June 2018 |
newspaper=[[Daily Monitor]] |first=Yasiin | last=Mugerwa | location=Kampala}}</ref>

==Radio and television==
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.<ref name="14R"/> Collection of a licence fee set at {{shilingi|20,000}} (around €8.40 or [[United States dollar|US$]]10.80) started in 2005.<ref name="14R"/> However, collection was subsequently halted by President [[Yoweri Museveni]].<ref name="14R"/> There has since been  pressure to reinstate the licence fee to maintain UBC's independence.<ref name="14R">{{cite web|access-date=29 June 2018
|url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200608071382.html |title=Uganda: Scribes Call for Reconsideration of TV Fees |date=7 August 2006 | newspaper=[[Daily Monitor]] via [[AllAfrica.com]] |first=Isaac |last=Mufumba |location=Kampala}}</ref>

==Newspapers==
Daily newspapers in Uganda include ''[[New Vision|The New Vision]]'', ''Sunday Vision'', ''[[The Monitor (Uganda)|The Daily Monitor]]'', ''The Sunday Monitor'', ''[[Red Pepper (newspaper)|The Red Pepper]]'', ''The Sunday Pepper'', ''[[The Weekly Observer|The Uganda Observer]]'', and ''[[East African Business Week|The East African Business Week]]'' in the Northern Region of Uganda. ''The East African Procurement News'' is a weekly business newspaper.<ref name="15R">{{cite web|access-date=29 June 2018 |date=December 2017 |url=http://www.onlinenewspapers.com/uganda.htm | publisher=Onlinenewspapers.com |author=Online Newspapers | title=Partial Listing of Online Newspapers in Uganda}}</ref>

==Blogs in Uganda==
Blogs are increasingly being used as a medium of communication in Uganda.<ref name="16R">{{cite web|access-date=29 June 2018 | url=https://www.techjaja.com/ugandas-top-10-female-bloggers-that-you-must-follow/ |title=Uganda's Top 10 Female Bloggers That You Must Follow |publisher=Techjaja.com |author=Robert Sebunya | date=29 April 2015 | location=Kampala}}</ref> 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.<ref name="17R">{{cite web|access-date=29 June 2018 |url=https://bigeye.ug/top-ten-ugandan-bloggers-who-influence-the-nation/ |title=Top Ten Ugandan Bloggers Who Influence The Nation |date=23 August 2013 |first=Ian |last=Ortega |location=Kampala | publisher=BigEye Uganda}}</ref>

Blog sites in Uganda include Mbu, Techjaja, Nymy Net, Dignited, Mugibson, and Pulse Uganda.

==See also==
* [[Uganda Communications Commission]]
* [[Media in Uganda]]
* [[List of newspapers in Uganda]]
* [[List of radio stations in Africa]]
* [[List of terrestrial fibre optic cable projects in Africa#Uganda|Terrestrial fibre optic cable projects in Uganda]]

==References ==
<references/>

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|title=Easy Guide to the Internet in Uganda|publisher=IICD|year=2006|url=http://www.iicd.org/files/Booklet%20Inet.pdf/|access-date=2009-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704153951/http://www.iicd.org/files/Booklet%20Inet.pdf|archive-date=2008-07-04|url-status=dead}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140730163507/http://www.ucc.co.ug/ Uganda Communications Commission: A Government Agency]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081219184236/http://www.ucc.co.ug/RadioTVStationsInUgandaJune2008.pdf Uganda Communications Commission – June 2008 Index of Radio and TV stations – pdf]
* [http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/cou_ug.shtml GSM World page on Uganda]
* [http://www.panafril10n.org/wikidoc/pmwiki.php/PanAfrLoc/Uganda PanAfriL10n page on Uganda]

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{{Africa topic|Communications in}}
{{Telecommunications}}
{{Internet censorship by country}}
{{Economy of Uganda}}
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[[Category:Communications in Uganda| ]]
[[Category:Internet censorship by country|Uganda]]