Uganda and Tanzania recently reached a deal where the National Backbone Infrastructures (NBI) of the two countries have become interconnected to ease internet connection for citizens of the two countries.

ICT and national guidance minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi says: "We have now hooked the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) of Uganda to that of Tanzania so that our systems can speak to each other".

He adds that Uganda has been relying on the fibre optic cable running through the Indian Ocean and through Mombasa, Kenya, but that that was at times unstable.

He says the connection has been responsible for increasing Internet supply and also the reduction in the cost of supplying it to the end user in Uganda.

He was speaking on Tuesday as the Government announced a reduction in Internet charges on the Internet provided by the Government.

It now costs $35 to consume one megabit per second (Mbps) per month of internet generated by the Government. This is a drop from $70 per megabit per second per month previously. 

Mbps are units of measurement for network bandwidth and throughput. They are used to show how fast a network or internet connection is.

Could cost trickle down to end user?

Although this price reduction applies to only government-generated Internet, analysts say the move could have far-reaching effects on prices Ugandans are paying to use Internet provided by local telecom providers. 

This is because many of them could also be compelled to cut their prices due to the overall drop in demand for Internet in Uganda.

It should be noted that some government offices have for years been dependent on telecom companies for their internet needs. However, this is no longer the case because most of them are now utilising the Internet from the NBI.

Cost highest in the world

According to a 2022 study by research firm Surfshark based in the Netherlands, the cost of internet use in Uganda is the highest in the world. 

The report revealed that Uganda’s internet affordability ranks 116th out of 117 countries surveyed in the world or 92% of the global population. This means the Internet in Uganda is not affordable compared to global standards.

To afford mobile internet, Ugandans have to work 510 times more (41 min 50 s/month) than Israeli citizens, for whom the most affordable 1GB package costs only 5 seconds of work monthly.

According to the report, Ivory Coast was the only country in Africa with more expensive internet than Uganda in the world, after the report ranked it 117 on Surfshark’s Digital Quality of Life Index 2022.

The high cost of the internet in Uganda has been blamed on high operating expenses for service providers. The telecom companies must build or lease infrastructure to connect the country to the fibre cables on the Indian Ocean coast and deliver the data over a 900km route into the country.