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Internet users in Uganda increased by 1.2 million (10.3%) between January 2023 and January 2024, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information Communication and Technology (ICT), Dr Aminah Zawedde, has revealed.

This pushed the total number of internet users in Uganda to 13.30 million.

Statistics indicate that the Democratic Republic of Congo tops East African Community Member States with 28 million internet users. Kenya comes second with 22 million, followed by Tanzania with 21 million, Uganda 13 million, Rwanda 4 million and South Sudan 1 million. 

“Uganda has experienced tremendous progress in the telecommunication and ICT industry over the past years. In January 2024, there were 13.30 million internet users in Uganda and the same month Uganda’s internet penetration rate stood at 2% of the total population at the beginning of this year,” Dr Zawedde said. 

She explained that as of 2023, about 77% of the population were covered by 3G and 31% by 4G, while 53% of the country’s geography are covered by 3G and 24% by 4G. 5G technology has also been launched commercially in Uganda.

Dr Zawedde said that such progress in ICT accelerates Uganda’s digital transformation agenda, improve communication and reduce the cost of doing business among other benefits.

She was addressing participants from 29 African countries at a validation workshop of the policy and regulatory frameworks for optical fibre infrastructure under the enhancement of governance and enabling environment programme at Golf Course Hotel in Kampala on Monday March 25, 2024.

Officials pose for a group photo. (Photo by Nancy Nanyonga)

The meeting attracted participants from Member States of Eastern Africa, Southern Africa, and the Indian Ocean (EA-SA-IO), East African Community (EAC), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and European Union among others.

Global figures

Dr Zawedde said that globally, approximately 67% of the world's population was using the Internet in 2023. However, for the African continent, only 37% of the population was using the Internet.

“This is an indication that as a continent there is a need to improve ICT infrastructure coverage and target to reach the underserved and unserved communities,” she implored.

She regretted that Africa lags behind in fiber network and broadband connectivity, spectrum, and data center processing capabilities.

To bridge the gap, digital infrastructure investments will require 250,000 new 4G base stations and at least 250,000 kilometers of fiber in Africa, Dr Zawedde noted.

Zawedde said her ministry has implemented the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure and e-Government Infrastructure project (NBI/EGI) aimed at connecting all major towns in the country onto an optical fibre cable-based Network and to connect Ministries and Government Departments onto the e-Government network.

“Through this project, laying of over 12,000 Km of optical fibre cable across the country has been achieved,” she said.

Benefits of optical fibre infrastructure

Having available optical fibre infrastructure across the region would have a positive effect on several other areas such as increased cross-border trade, free movements of people, reduced cost of doing business more so for the land locked countries and ultimately enhanced regional integration.

SEACOM launched Africa's first broadband submarine cable system along the continent's Eastern and Southern coasts in 2009. This marked the beginning of a new era as the African continent was being connected to the rest of the world. Since then, many more cables have landed at different ports along the African coastline.

However, the challenge has been the connectivity to the in-land. Land locked countries face this challenge of extending fiber connectivity in-land. Uganda being landlocked faces this challenge. Optic fiber connectivity, the focus of this workshop, is therefore a matter of urgency for Africa.