'Government pushing for reliability, quality communication services'

Oct 31, 2018

For the last two years, we have discussed with MTN on how to enable better growth in the sector and we hope that the results will start to show,” Tumwebaze said.

COMMUNICATION

The ICT and Information minister Frank Tumwebaze has said the government is currently pushing for reliability and quality communication services, in a bid to enhance trade, communication to further the country's growth.

"20 years ago, the licensing regime in the sector focused on facilitating the entry of new players in the market. 20 years later, the push is to now have reliability and improved quality of service.

For the last two years, we have discussed with MTN on how to enable better growth in the sector and we hope that the results will start to show," Tumwebaze said.

He added: "I am confident that the next two decades will be years of high standard of service, listening to customer concerns and deepening innovations."

Commenting on the recent MTN expo art of the activities for the celebration of 20 years the company has spent in Uganda ,Tumwebaze said there telecommunication companies have facilitated and fostered innovation.

"I would like to congratulate MTN Uganda for making 20 years in Uganda by facilitating communication and fostering innovation.

He highlighted the role MTN Uganda had played over the last 20 years, noting that the impact to society had been positive.

In October 1998, MTN Uganda was launched in Uganda when a mobile phone call connecting President Museveni in Uganda and Nelson Mandela in South Africa was successful. It marked the entry of MTN Uganda in the market.

Since then through consistently enabling connections, MTN Uganda has over 11 million customers. The expo highlighted the historical journey of the telecom for the last 20 years showing some of the things that have been achieved.

"However, as we celebrate the past, the future is not going to be waiting for us. We must be ready to inspire the future because the future of the industry continues to evolve.

This expo is an indication of what we would like to achieve. MTN Uganda will have two strategic areas of growth in the next 10 years," said Wim Vanhelleputte, CEO MTN Uganda.

According to Vanhelleputte, telecoms of the future are going to enable the transformation of several sectors in the economy beyond just providing voice calls.

"If we give an example of the connected cow; farmers will in the future be able to monitor the health of their livestock using just a mobile phone.

This would mean that the telecom is enabling the modernisation of agriculture," Wim added.

New Vision has learnt that in 2019, between January and March, the expos will go regional and shall be taking place in several towns in the country.

The towns include Entebbe, Jinja, Mbale, Gulu, Arua, Mubende, Hoima, Masaka, Fort Portal, and Mbarara. Those regional expos also indicate MTN Uganda's ability to connect Ugandans beyond just the capital city.

 

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