By Florence Mukankusi
Uganda’s population is growing fast amid prevailing social and economic inequalities. The country’s population is largely young with more than 47 per cent under the age of 15 and nearly 80 per cent under the age of 30. Such an age demographic is typically associated with a potential affinity for the use of digital technologies. In addition, the country currently hosts Africa’s largest refugee population to whom digital connectivity can offer access to services and economic opportunities.
Uganda’s digital sector represents one of the fastest-growing sectors with positive spill-over effects on other sectors of the economy. Its contribution to the country’s GDP has considerably increased due to a series of conducive government policies and significant uptake of mobile phone subscribers hence developing digital infrastructure, if complemented by expansion in human capital development can foster growth by enhancing productivity, facilitating information exchange and improving service delivery across the economy.
However, currently, affordability remains a key barrier to the take-up of mobile broadband, despite the widespread adoption of mobile phones that provide the main platform for internet use as opposed to fixed access with about half of all mobile subscribers in Uganda using mobile internet services.
Limited network coverage is another constraint to the higher adoption of mobile broadband, with sharp regional disparities. While more than 95 per cent of the population is covered by mobile telephony networks (2G), mobile broadband (3G and 4G) coverage lags behind at around 50 per cent.
The Government through NITA-U efforts to address these bottlenecks and leverage the opportunities by implementing the Uganda Digital Acceleration programme (UDAP) that will focus on expanding access to high-speed internet, improving the efficiency of digital government services, and strengthening the enabling environment for digital technology adoption.
UDAP has included a policy support component, providing support for developing or updating key national laws and regulations with the view to increasing competition and lower prices for digital services.
It also contributes to building better communications infrastructures by expanding the national fibre optic backbone infrastructure and connecting government facilities such as offices, game parks, and refugee settlement camps, creating more public WIFI in most parts of the country and connecting till the last mile so as to improve the government’s ability to deliver services to its citizens through shared e-Government infrastructures.
The Government is also finalising the Digital Uganda Vision aligned with Vision 2040, aiming to build a digitally-enabled modern society that is secure, innovative, and transformative, realised through technology-based empowerment.
The Digital Uganda Vision (DUV) sets an overarching framework for providing direction to national ICT policies and showing how digital services can be used to achieve inclusion, sustainable development, economic progress and poverty eradication.
The five pillars of the Vision include Integrated digital infrastructure and connectivity, digital services, cyber-security, privacy and data protection, digital inclusion and empowerment and content development, innovations and product development.
UDAP is closely aligned with the Uganda Country Partnership Framework which elucidates the potential of the digital sector for Uganda’s development. It supports the strategic objectives of promoting shared growth and sustainable economic growth and improved connectivity for regional integration through improved digital infrastructure and competitiveness of the digital sector.
Progress toward achieving greater digital connectivity within the country and across the region can boost productivity and efficiency gains in a range of sectors, including financial services, agriculture and natural resource management, health and education.
Solutions such as mobile banking and payments, digital healthcare, agricultural information services and online learning platforms can greatly enhance public service delivery, particularly in lagging regions.
The project is directly aligned with the digital economy transformation for Africa initiative of the African Union, which aims to have every African individual, business and government digitally enabled by 2030.
The project will expand access to affordable high-speed internet through a combination of regulatory reforms and investments.
It will strengthen public sector data infrastructure and digital platforms for improved service delivery, enabling the coordinated roll-out of digital services at scale across key ministries and agencies.
It aims to ensure a digitally capable and inclusive Uganda, by enhancing ICT research and innovation, improving digital skills and promoting digital inclusion. The project will finance a coordinated effort to build up the core foundations of the digital economy including digital infrastructure and platforms, digital skills, digital financial services and an enabling environment for digital business and entrepreneurship.
This initiative supports increased cooperation in digital investment, innovation and trade by promoting the harmonization of regulations between the Northern Corridor countries of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
- The writer is the communications officer at National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U)
