The Minister for ICT and National Guidance Chris Baryomunsi has commended the National Information and Technology Authority for successfully implementing the Regional Communication Infrastructure Programme (RCIP) saying it will promote digitation and social-economic transformation.

Baryomunsi was speaking at the government Chief Information Officers breakfast meeting on RCIP Project at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala on Wednesday.

In 2016, The Government of Uganda secured funding in the amount of US$ 75 Million Equivalent to IDA – World Bank for the financing of the Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (RCIP).

He said due to the project, Uganda has realized a reduction in internet costs from USD1200 in 2013 to USD 300 in 2014 to USD 190 per Mega bite per second in 2017 to the current USD 70 per Mega bite per second which represents an 84% reduction in cost.

Chris Baryomunsi

“Currently, there are more than 30 million mobile phone subscribers translating to a 71% subscription rate and over 23 million Ugandans are internet users. This is in line with the Government's key principle of social-economic transformation,” he said.

Baryomunsi added that promoting ICT remains central in the NDP111, the Vision 2040 as well as the NRM manifesto and re-affirmed government efforts towards digitization as a way to achieve social-economic transformation.

“Despite the fact that Africa has always been left behind in the previous industrial revolutions, we all agree that there is progress in the ICT sector in the country. However, more needs to be done especially in the automation of services especially at the local government level,” he added.

Baryomunsi noted that this is why the Government insisted on raising salaries for the scientists because science is key to the social-economic transformation of any society.

“We increased the salaries of scientists and science teachers to promote the teaching of sciences and encourage students to take up sciences but not that humanities are less important,” he said.

Dr. Hatwib Mugasa the Executive Director of NITA- U said as the program comes to an end the extension of the geographic reach of broadband connectivity across the country has increased with 764km of Optical Fibre Cable added to the government National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) and additional 842km of Optical Fiber extended under missing links which covered West Nile.

“A total of 725 additional MDAs/DLG sites and target user groups have been connected to the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI), installation of additional 300 Wi-Fi sites across major cities and towns across the country, and greening of 25 NBI transmission sites have been completed with all sites connected to solar energy,” he said.