Telecom infrastructure vandalism is economic sabotage says UCC
Apr 13, 2024
Kabagambe regretted that the enforcement of telecom equipment theft is considered a petty offence yet impacts the economy.
Amina Zawedde the Permanent secretary of the Ministry of ICT and National guidance sharing a light moment with the Nyombi Thembo the executive director of Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) shortly after a meeting at Four Points by Sheraton. (Photos by Simon Peter Tumwine)
Simon Peter Tumwine
Journalist @New Vision
___________________ Nyombi Thembo the executive director of Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) remarking during the stake holder’s meeting on vandalism at Four Points by Sheraton
Information and communications technology (ICT) service providers have said that telecom infrastructure vandalism must be treated as an economic sabotage to the country.
Speaking during the National Stakeholder Forum on Vandalism co-organized by Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and American Tower Cooperation (ATC) Uganda, Dorothy Kabagambe the Chief Executive Officer of ATC said one of the biggest problems that the country is facing is with unregulated scrap markets that buy the ICT infrastructure installation.
“It is important to regulate scrap markets where these things are sold so that we can avert and kill the market where these items are sold. The government should consider ICT infrastructure vandalism as economic sabotage,” Kabagambe said.
She said, “When you go to the police to report the case, they ask you what he/she stole and when you tell them that it is a cable, they say it is just a cable. Please, this is not just a cable but a whole area is being impacted because it is being cut off from the service.
There is a need to amend the law and express penalties issued.”
The amended law of 2022, states a maximum sentence of UGX 1 billion, or a 25-year jail sentence, or both, for anybody convicted of network vandalism. The Act further expounded on the definition of vandalism with total clarity to eliminate any gaps that the goons were exploiting in the past.
“We request the government and agencies to elevate telecom infrastructure as critical because it carries the GDP of this country and the well-being of all Ugandans. We believe that enough penalty should be given to the culprits,” Kabagambe said earlier this week in Kampala.
She regretted that the enforcement of telecom equipment theft is considered a petty offence yet impacts the economy.
Kabagambe called on Ugandans to stop vandalism of ICT infrastructures saying it also impacts them.
“If you go to the bank and they tell you that the system is down, it is not down because of anything else but because the cable that has been cut. Kabagambe disclosed that ATC operates over 4,000 towers in the country.
Since 2012 to date, telecom infrastructures have grown to 5,000 towers in the country which represents significant coverage adding that the taxes collected from the telecom companies have grown from 15-20%.
She appealed to the law enforcers to implement the laws against vandalism and stop taking it as a simple case.
Nyombi Thembo, the executive director of the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) called for collaborative efforts to combat ICT infrastructure vandalism.
“Despite numerous efforts to protect ICT infrastructures, we have observed massive vandalism of communication infrastructures and installations over the years. This vandalism extends beyond communication installations like towers, stealing of batteries, generators among others, and one identified reason is the sale of these infrastructures to scrap dealers,” he noted
“We should embrace development. Government and private operators have established competence of very sophisticated structures to deliver critical communication services across the country including voice data, and mobile money among others, and these services enhance our digitization efforts and development in all areas of connectivity and the delivery of crucial services in areas of security, education among others,” he noted.
Dr. Aminah Zawedde, the permanent secretary Ministry of ICT and National Guidance said while they have heavily invested in ICT infrastructures, they have been vandalized.
“The challenge we are facing as a country is that while rolling digital infrastructure is very important for us, the digital infrastructures on which digitalization thrive are vandalized from time to time. We intend to get strategies on how to bring this to an end. We are losing a lot of money because of the vandalization of the ICT equipment,” she said.
Denis Kakonge the director of legal at Airtel revealed that between January last year to date, Airtel has lost sh134m ($35000) in vandalized telecom equipment.
“We have lost over sh134m in vandalized telecom equipment alone. In this figure, we have not added up how much we lost in terms of mobile money transactions, airtime purchases, and taxes among others.
This is huge money that we are losing specifically from the scrap dealers, Kakonge said.
Allan Rwakakooko, the head of legal from UMEME, noted that because of their towers' vandalism, they have decided to switch from using copper wires to aluminum which are in less demand on the market.
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