Annual Post, Broadcasting and Telecommunications Market ... 12 Annual post and Telecom market...

Annual Post, Broadcasting

and Telecommunications

Market Review 2011/2012

Economic Regulation Unit 1

The information and figures contained herein were obtained from licensees’ submissions

to the Commission and other sources available to the Commission. It is intended to

provide an overview of the industry to the industry, prospective entrants, government,

academia and other stakeholders. We do not give any kind of warranty and may not be

liable for any loss or damage caused arising from its use.

Legal Disclaimer


Introduction

This review presents the performance of the post and telecommunication’s

market for the Financial Year 2011/12. It includes the following;

1. A review of the macro economic developments at global, regional and

national level

2. Regional and global trends in the communications sector

3. Communications Sector contribution to economic growth in Uganda

4. Trends in Subscriptions and Penetration

5. Service Growth and coverage

6. Products and pricing trends in the post and courier market

7. Key regulatory developments

Economic Regulation Unit

3

Global Economic Performance 2011/12


PROJECTIONS

2010 2011 2012 2013

WORLD 5.3 3.9 3.5 4.1

ADVANCED ECONOMIES 3.2 1.6 1.4 2

UNITED STATES 3 1.7 2.1 2.4

EURO AREA 1.9 1.4 -0.3 0.9

JAPAN 4.4 -0.7 2 1.7

EMERGING AND DEVELOPING ECONOMIES 7.5 6.2 5.7 6


5

GDP GROWTH RATES Source: Estimates from IMF

The global economy continued to slow down registering estimated growth levels of

3.5%. Developing and emerging economies registered a GDP growth rate of 5.7%

Regional Economic Performance

Rwanda experienced the highest economic growth rate in 2011

followed by Uganda and Tanzania within the Region


3.7

4.7 4.8

6.5

7.3

Uganda Kenya Burundi Tanzania Rwanda

GDP Growth Rates in the region 2011/12

Source IMF, UBOS

Annual CPI Inflation across EAC

countries


Source IMF

The Global & Regional

Communications/ ICT Trends


Shares of Internet users in the total

population

Source: ITU World

Telecommunication/ICT Indicators

Database,

* represents estimates

9 Economic Regulation Unit

Source: ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database


Almost 6 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions

Source: ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database * Represents estimates.


Home ICT Access, 2011*

Source: ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database

.


With 5.9 billion mobile-cellular subscriptions, global penetration reached 87%, and 79% in the developing world. Mobile-broadband subscriptions have grown over the last four years and today there are twice as many mobile-broadband as fixed broadband subscriptions. Of 1.8 billion households worldwide, one third have Internet access, compared to only one fifth five years ago. In developing countries, 25% of homes have a computer and 20% have Internet access, compared to 20% and 13%, respectively, 3 years ago.


International Internet bandwidth has grown exponentially over the last five years, from 11’000 Gbit/s in 2006, to close to 80’000 Gbit/s in 2011.



Bandwidth per Region 2011

• Disparities between regions in terms of available Internet bandwidth per user remain, with on average almost 90’000 bit/s of bandwidth per user in Europe, compared with 2’000 bit/s per user in Africa

Broadband subscriptions per region

In Africa, mobile-broadband penetration has reached 4%, compared with less than 1% for fixed-broadband penetration. The world’s top broadband economies are from Europe and Asia and the Pacific. In the Republic of Korea mobile-broadband penetration exceeds 90%.


National Economic Outlook


National Economic Outlook

There was a huge drop in GDP growth rate from 6.7% in the previous FY to

3.2% in FY 2011/12.


2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

Agric,Fishing and Forestry 0.1 1.3 2.9 2.4 0.7 3.0

Industry 9.6 8.8 5.8 6.5 7.9 1.1

Services 8 9.7 8.8 8.2 8.4 3.1

Overall GDP at Market pxs 8.4 8.7 7.3 5.9 6.7 3.2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

% G

row

th R

ate

Overall GDP and Sectoral share to GDP, 2011/12

Sub-Sector growth Rates (Services)

Although the Posts and

telecommunications sub

sector continued to lead

the in the service

categories, declines in

rate of growth were

registered in all sub-

categories except for air

transport


21.3

14.3

17.5

14.1

8.9

20.8

12.9 14.1

7.9

2.1

17.8

-3.6

0.9

3.3 4

22.6

19.8

23.7

21.2

15

2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

Transport & Comm

Road, Rail & Water

Air Transport

Posts and telecommunications

Source UBOS, 2012

Exchange rate Performance


0.0

1000.0

2000.0

3000.0

Interbank average buying exchange rate USD

2010/11 2011/12

• An acceleration in depreciation of the shillings was recorded in the FY

peaking in October 2011 when the shilling was trading at 2863/- per US

dollar

Exchange Rate Performance as of end of June 2012

CURRENCY UGX EQUIVALENT

CROSS RATES BUYING RATES SELLING RATES

Pound Sterling/US Dollar 1.5506 3827.3 3842.71

US Dollar/Swiss Franc 0.9667 2553.29 2563.58

US Dollar/Japanese Yen 79.3 31.13 31.25

SDR/US Dollar 1.5106 3728.57 3743.58

US Dollar/Swedish Krone 7.0726 348.99 350.4

US Dollar/Norwegian

Krone 6.0771 406.16 407.79

US Dollar/Danish Krone 5.9814 412.66 414.32

US Dollar/Kenya Shilling 84.125 29.34 29.46

US Dollar/Tanzania

Shilling 1575 1.567 1.573

US Dollar/COMESA Dollar 1 2468.27 2478.21

Euro/US Dollar 1.2426 3067.07 3079.42

Gold/US Dollar 1566.045

Source: Bank of Uganda


Inflation


18.8

21.4

28.3 30.5

29.0 27.0

25.6 25.7

21.1 20.0

18.6 18.0

July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May June

2011 2012

Annual % change in composite CPI Base 2005/2006 Source Bank of Uganda

• Simalar to the exchange rate performance, the economy was hit by high

inflation during the FY peaking at 30.5% in October 2011. This trend had

declined to 18% in June 2012.

Economic performance


The three factors, high inflation, volatile

exchange rate and high interest rates accounted

for the general slow down in the country’s

economy in 2011/12 and subsequently the

performance of the communications sector

SECTOR PERFORMANCE


Post & Telecommunications

Contribution to GDP

The posts &

telecommunications share of

GDP dropped in 2011/12 from

3.0% to 1.6%.

The slow down and low

contribution is comparable to

other sectors and the economy

at large given the weak macro

economic performance of the

country characterized by high

inflation and exchange

volatilities


3.0

2.9 3.1

3.0

1.6

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Post & Telecommunications Share of GDP, 2011 (UBOS)

GDP Share

NUMBER OF TELECOM SERVICE

PROVIDERS

DEC

2010

JUNE

2011

DEC

2011

JUN

2012

National Telecom

Operators (NTO)

2 2 2 2

Public Infrastructure

Providers (PIP)

26 24 24 24

PSP(Voice & Data) 37 34 34 35

PSP (Capacity Resale) 8 7 7 7

Economic Regulation 26

See www.ucc.co.ug for a full list of telecommunications services providers in

Uganda

http://www.ucc.co.ug/

Telecommunications Tax Revenue

The sector once again

recorded the highest tax

collection for the government

in 2011/12

Shs 245 Billion was collected

in form of VAT, Excise and

PAYE from the major

telecoms.

This translated into 23%

growth in year on year tax

collections.

The growth in tax revenues

was the result of increased

volume of usage for internet

and Value added services and

investment in infrastructure Economic Regulation Unit

27

2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

88,775

98,001 100,750

113,319

54,628

94,278

68,245

98,330

12,176

22,562

30,643 33,252

Excise VAT PAYE

Source; Uganda Revenue Authority

Quarterly Tax Collections 2011/12


23,554,631,592

27,997,121,569

31,361,453,669 30,406,045,001

12,196,929,503

28,738,531,433 28,577,666,267 28,817,777,001

8,544,353,183 7,564,241,403 7,770,786,073

9,372,939,410

3Q11 4Q11 1Q12 2Q12

Excise VAT PAYE Source; Uganda Revenue Authority

Telecom Gross Turn Over


831,510,977 1,034,350,062 1,216,226,635 1,377,530,943 1,588,354,852

34.18

24.39

17.58

13.26 15.30

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

-

200,000,000

400,000,000

600,000,000

800,000,000

1,000,000,000

1,200,000,000

1,400,000,000

1,600,000,000

1,800,000,000

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Est Telecommunications Turnover and Year on Year Growth Rates, 2007 -11

Turnover (Shs, 000) % Y on Y Growth rate


-131,343

160,111

-46,681

-69,549

-143,620

-21,146

239 1,076

-76,756

83,327

-95,787

-145,812 -156,726

-17,050

-3,803 -2,604 Airtel MTN Warid UTL Orange Smile Infocom Tangerine

Profit/Loss After Tax, 2010 – 11 in UShs 000

2010 2011

Profit/ Loss After Tax


Operator Current

Assets

(Shs 000)

Current

Liabilities

(Shs 000)

Net Current

Liabilities

(Shs 000)

Current

Ratio

Airtel

59,691,000

283,622,000

223,931,000 0.210

MTN

212,003,773

286,214,006

74,210,233 0.741

Warid

56,742,466

116,685,545

59,943,079 0.486

Orange

54,267,962

367,813,492

313,545,530 0.148

Smile

3,758,926

56,935,873

53,176,947 0.066

UTL (Est)

70,000,000 na

Industry Net

792,693,803 0.543

Current

Assets Vs

Liabilities

2011


-

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

2010 2011

Ne

t c

ash

Us

ed

in

In

ve

sti

ng

Ex

pe

nd

itu

re,

Sh

s M

il

Growth in Net Investment Expenditure, Shs Mil, Shs Mil

Airtel MTN Orange UTL Smile Warid

Net Investment Expenditure


Airtel 10%

MTN 55%

Orange 23%

UTL 6%

Smile 2%

Warid 4%

Net Investment Spend Spread, 2010

Airtel 48%

MTN 38%

Orange 9%

UTL 2%

Smile 0%

Warid 3%

Net Investment Spend Spread, 2011

Share of Investment Expenditure

Service Growth and Penetration


Fixed & Mobile Subscriptions

& Penetration, 2011/12


2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

Fixed & Mobile Subscriptions 3,729,645 6,301,590 9,678,799 10,641,110 15,019,129 15,866,978

Teledensity 13.2 21.2 31.6 33.5 45.6 46.5

13.2

21.2

31.6 33.5

45.6 46.5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

-

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

14,000,000

16,000,000

18,000,000

Quarterly Subscriptions and Penetration Growth


Jun-11 Sep-11 Dec-11 Mar-12 Jun-12

342,624 320,859 464,849 406,560 330,989

14,676,505

15,628,358

16,696,992 16,690,550

15,535,989

Quarterly Subscriptions, 2011/12

Fixed Mobile

5.3 6.2 7.6 -0.4

-7.2

45.6 48.4

52.1 50.1

46.5

Jun-11 Sep-11 Dec-11 Mar-12 Jun-12

Quarterly Subscription Growth Rates & Penetration, 2011/12

Quarterly Growth Rate Penetration

Subscription Growth

At the end of the financial year 2011/12, there were only 0.8 million

new subscribers in registered compared to 4.37 million new

subscribers recorded during the previous FY.

Possible reasons for the slow down in uptake include;

The introduction of SIM card registration exercise in the second half of

the financial year and

A probable saturation of the voice market, coupled with a decline in

demand for multiple sim card/ phones as tariffs for on-net and off net

calls converge.

Subsequently, national telephone penetration slightly rose to 46%

from 45% recorded during the previous period. This represents an

increase of only 1%

Important to note is a shift in the telecommunications market in

Uganda from predominately voice driven to mobile broadband and

value added services such as mobile finance.


Voice Tariff Movements


An intense competition exists between

telecommunication operators in Uganda. A number of

pricing plans and promotions have emerged in the

market- See slide 42

Despite the above the operators seem to offer a similar

base tariff for their services as shown slide 43

Go to www.ucc.co.ug for detailed price list


http://www.ucc.co.ug/

Pricing plans and promotions that

prevailed during the period

MTN Warid Airtel Orange UTL

Pricing Plans Per Minute Kawa Kika Offers Talk Now Per Second

Per Second Pakalast Kiro More Super

Combo

MTN Zone Corporate

Megabonus

Buddy Talk

Promotions Sukuma SMS Progress with

Warid

“Airtel Misses

You” Sim

Reactivation

Yoola

Obukadde

Yoola

Obukadde

Overload Call me Tukyakale Lucky Guess U-Switch

Crazy Friday Women of

Substance

Gimme 5 Scratch Card

Bonus

Y’ello

Christmas

Double the Fun Bifuna Kilalu Activation

Bonus

Kyitabuse Airtel & Arsenal Retention

Promotion


On net and Off net Pricing Comparisons (UGX),

On net Pricing Off net Pricing

41

310

340 400

329 290

180

120 120

120

120

180 120 120

240

120

UTL MTN Airtel Warid Orange

On net tariffs movement

Jun-10 Jun-11 Jun-12

440

500

400 389 390

180 180 180 180

300

240 240 240

240

300


Off net tarifs movement


310

340

400

329

290

180

120 120

120 120

180

120 120

240

120


On net tariffs movement


There was a general increase in off net tariffs during the period under review.


Traffic Growth


Annual Traffic Growth

The sector recorded a total of 16.2

billion minutes in 2011/12 up from 12.6

billion recorded in 2010/11.

This 29% year on year aggregate

growth was based on 45% growth in

the on net segment and 62% growth in

the international outgoing segment.

However, a huge drop of 21% was

realised in the off net segment during

the FY 2011/12.

The excellent performance of the on

net and international outgoing traffic

segment was on account of

international rate revisions and

discounted on net promotional offers

during the FY.


2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

5,413,033,985

6,500,467,142

9,385,078,373

13,604,204,336

1,065,219,839 827,570,668

3,042,261,143

2,395,462,027

147,318,146 107,229,800 173,375,156 280,194,047

On net Off net Intl Outgoing

Annual Traffic Growth


12.2

69.5

29.2 20.1

44.4 45.0

-22.3

267.6

-21.3 -27.2

61.7 61.6

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

Annual Percentage Traffic Growth Rates, 2011/12

Overaall growth On net growth Off net growth Intl outg'g growth

Annual Traffic Distribution


On net 75%

Off net 24%

Intl Outgoing 1%

Traffic Distribution, 2010/11

On net 83%

Off net 15%

Intl Outgoing 2%

Traffic Distribution, 2011/12

There was an increase in on net traffic at the expense of the off net

traffic

Roaming minutes, 2011/12

Roaming minutes by foreign networks far exceeded that in foreign

networks for the indicated FY.


IN FOREIGN NETWORK, 70,802,959

BY FOREIGN NETWORK, 195,148,167

SMS Traffic Growth Comparison

21% growth in on net SMS

volume.

19% growth in off net SMS

volume

28% growth in international

out going SMS volumes


July- Dec 11 Jan- June 12

433,106,72

9

526,022,60

0

74,228,091

88,100,398

13,297,131

16,962,324

SMS Traffic Growth Comparison, 2011/12

Onnet Sms Off net Sms Int'nal Out

SMS Traffic, 2011/12


ON NET SMS

83%

OFF NET SMS 14%

INTERNATIONAL

Outgoing SMS 3%

Similar to voice, 83% of SMS sent out is on net work

Internet and Data Services


Bandwidth Growth, 2011/12


-

200.0

400.0

600.0

800.0

-

5,000

10,000

15,000

20,000

25,000

Jun-10 Dec-10 Jun-11 Dec-11 Jun-12

Jun-10 Dec-10 Jun-11 Dec-11 Jun-12

Total Bandwidth (mbps) 5,146 7,727 15,739 18,887 22,664

Bandwidth per 1,000,000 inhabitants

161.9 243.1 477.8 573.4 664.0

Bandwidth Growth, 2011/12

Growth in internet Access and Usage


58,648

541,000 645,000 934,758

1,066,286

1,679,259

2,800,000

3,500,000

4,000,000

4,662,240 4,800,000

5,700,000

Jun-09 Jun-10 Dec-10 Jun-11 Dec-11 Jun-12

Growth in internet Users, June 2012

Internet subscriptions Est Internet users

Trends in internet Subscriptions


Mobile/ Wireless internet has been the dominant access mode in line with

trends in the region .

Mobile Wireless Subscriptions

During the FY 2011/12, the five

mobile service providers

(MTN, Warid, UTL, Orange &

Airtel) as well as other mobile

wireless operators continued

to upgrade and expand their

networks with advanced 3G &

4G technologies that allow for

faster mobile broadband

connection speeds.

By June 2012, the mobile

internet sub sector had posted

over 1.5 million subscribers as

highlighted in the figure.


Jun-11 Dec-11 Mar-12 Jun-12

850,200

977,500

1,432,700

1,586,325

Estimated Mobile Internet Subscriptions, June 2012

INTERNET PRICING


Mobile Internet Pricing, Modem/dongle

Comparisons, June 2012

Operator Modem Details Speed Price (Shs)

Airtel E 173 Huawei modem HSPDA/3G+

Plug and Play

Up to 7.2 mbps 110,000

Airtel E 173 Huawei modem HSPDA/3G+

Plug and Play

Up to 3.6 mbps 99,000

Orange ZTE MF 192 Up to 21 mbps 99,000

UTL E 1750 Huawei modem HSPDA/3G+

Plug and Play

75,000

MTN E303 Huawei Up to 7.2 mbps 66,000

Warid 25,000

Tangerine EVO - CDMA Up to 3.5 mbps 50,000

Tangerine EVO - CDMA Up to 3.5 mbps 70,000

Foris 89,000 Economic Regulation Unit 55

Mobile Internet pricing, June 2012


UTL (Phone) Tangerine (Modem)

MTN (Modem/Phone

)

Warid (Phone/Modem

)

Airtel(Phone/Modem)

Orange (Phone/Modem

)

Data Bundle (mb) 500 500 500 500 500 600

Bundle Price (Shs) 14500 15000 25000 25000 25000 25000

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

440

460

480

500

520

540

560

580

600

620

Bu

nd

le C

ap

ac

ity (

MB

)

Select Medium Value Pre paid 30 Day - Valid Mobile Internet Bundles, June 2012

Infrastructural sharing and

ownership

The sale, leasing and sharing of infrastructure has

became prominent in a bid for operators to improve their

top line .

MTN entered into an agreement to sell and lease back their

towers to TowerCo Uganda Limited, a JV between MTN and

American Tower Corporation (ATC). MTN owns 49% of

TowerCo Uganda Limited.

Eaton Towers Uganda Limited acquired a PIP license during the

review period and took over the site portfolio of Orange Uganda

Limited.

Warid Telecom in March 2012 reached an agreement to transfer

their passive infrastructure (Towers) to Eaton Towers U Ltd.


Product and Service Developments

The FY 2011/12 saw the launch of new products and

services which included;

The launch of 3G network by Warid Telecom in March 2012

Orange completion of its network upgrade in April 2012. The

upgrade enables subscribers to access internet at a speed of up

21 Mbps

MTN upgraded its mobile money market network and in March

2012 announced its global mobile money transfer partnership

with Western Union

iWay Africa announced the purchase of the merged Afsat / Africa

Online in August 2011


MOBILE MONEY SERVICES


Mobile Money Transfers

The mobile money transfer

continued to record positive

growth during the period as this

service has become a medium of

payment and provision of

accessible and affordable banking

services.

At the end of the financial year,

the mobile money VAS had

registered 5.6million subscribers

up from 2.8 million clients

registered by Dec 2010.

This translated to an increase of

96.6% in the mobile money

subscriptions during the period.

In other words, the number of

mobile money transfer

subscriptions represents 36.5% of

the total mobile subscriptions.

This rapid uptake of mobile money

is an indication of the continued

demand for convenient time

saving services.


Mobile Money Registered Customers Vs

Mobile Subscribers

Dec-09 Dec-10 Dec-11 Jun-12

9,383,734

12,828,264

16,696,992

15,535,989

552,047

1,683,713

2,879,968

5,662,871

No of mobile subscribers

Mobile Money Registered subscribers


64%

36%

Share of Mobile Money Subscriber June

% of Mobile Subs not registered for Mobile Money

% Mobile Money Subcribers

Source:BOU

Mobile Money Transactions


The number and value of

transactions increased and by

June 2012 the mobile money

subsector had registered 94.5

million transactions valued at

4,901.1 billion as reported by

Bank of Uganda

The growth is attributed to the

growth in the mobile money

subscribers, increased access

points/ coverage and

introduction and an increased

products and service portfolios

on MM platform.

2,840

28,820

87,500

94,500

132.6

962.7

3,753

4,901.1

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

-

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

90,000

100,000

Dec-09 Dec-10 Dec-11 Jun-12

No of Transactions Vs Value of Transactions, June 12

No of transactions'000

Value of transactions (billions)

Source: BOU

Mobile Money Strategies and Products

During the period under review, the

four mobile money operators have

devised different avenues in order to

win the hearts of the consumers. The

moves were designed to improve

efficiency and convenience of the

payment process by eliminating long

lines at service points.

By July 2011, MTN Uganda had

partnered with 3 other major

companies that is Star-Times TV, Multi

choice Uganda and National Water &

Sewage Corporation to enable

customers pay their fees using MTN’s

mobile money platform.

In October 2011, Uganda Telecom

also entered into a mobile money deal

with Multi-Choice to enable customers

to pay their TV-subscription fees using

M-Sente.

In December 2011, Warid telecom

also launched its mobile money

platform - Warid-Pesa

Airtel launched its mobile money

platform on 30th January 2012.

In March 2012, MTN and global

money transfer firm Western Union

launched a mobile money transfer

service that allows MTN customers to

send and receive money across

borders using their mobile phones


http://waridtel.co.ug/waridpesa.php

Telecom, Broadcasting, Post and Courier

Service Providers


Number of Post and Courier

Service Providers

June 08 June 09 June 10 June 11 June 12

Major Postal 1 1 1 1 1

International

Courier

6 6 7 8 8

Regional

Courier

6 8 8 8 6

Domestic

Courier

8 8 14 14 13


Annual Ordinary, Registered & EMS Domestic

letter Post Traffic 2011/12


2009/10 2010/11 2011/12

1,808,945

1,415,099 1,388,419

36,456 23,412 20,130 106,707

230,998 173,236

Domestic Ordinary letter post Domestic Registered Letter Post Domestic EMS

Postal Traffic, 2011/12


Select International Postal

Traffic, 2011/12


License Kampala Mbarara Kenya South

Africa

UK USA

China

UPL/EMS Major postal 3,000 5,000 35,000 55,000 57,000 65,000 65,000

Yellow pages Domestic 3,600 9,200 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

Link Bus Domestic 4,000 12,000 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

G4S Regional 5,000 15,000 30,000 N/A N/A N/A N/A

Nation

Carrier

Regional 3,900 9,100 30,000 N/A N/A N/A N/A

Sky net International 5,000 30,100 33,000 45,000 45,000 88,000 66,000

Daks International 4,000 12,000 70,334 96,343 88,652 136,05

5

190,868

DHL International 6,500 19,500 61,265 89,112 91,897 12,534 186,578

Pax

Transport

International 6,500 15,600 61,786 86,191 88,972 122,33

6

186,284

69

Courier Rates for select Domestic, Regional and

International 500gm, June 2011

BROADCASTING INDICATORS


NUMBER OF BROADCASTING SERVICE

PROVIDERS

DEC

2010

JUNE

2011

DEC

2011

JUN

2012

Operational TV stations 54 54 44 60

Non Operational TV stations 14 14 20 10

Operational Digital TV stations 3

Non Operational Digital TV stations 2

Operational FM Radio stations 229 229 211 250

Non Operational FM Radio stations

48 48 52 36


KEY REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS


Sim-Card Registration

The UCC continued to

carryout awareness

campaign of the

compulsory sim-card

registration was

announced in April 2010.

The deadline for

registration is 1st March

2013.


Mobile Money Regulatory Framework

The novelty and dynamism of M M services presents a range of regulatory challenges cutting across the financial and telecommunications sectors.

As such, the UCC and Bank of Uganda are in a process of completing a framework for MM services which among others shall define among others the technical, commercial, consumer arrangements and safety of transaction .

Key Regulatory Developments

Key Regulatory Developments

Interconnection Reference

Rates

Following the intensive

interconnection rate review

process which began on

October 31st, 2011, the

Commission announced the

new reference interconnection

rates which became effective

on June 1st, 2012.

Voice Termination: Ush Shs 112

SMS Termination: Ug Shs 15

Economic Regulation

Unit 74

131

112

Old Rate New Rate

Voice Interconnection Reference Rates in Ugs per

Minute

Mobile Enabled Services

e-health

UCC inline with its objectives

for universal access and also

in line with the ICT policy for

MOH, developed a programme

for integration of ICT into the

health sector of Uganda. The

programme is divided into two

broad areas:

1. The e-HMIS

2. The Telemedicine

The e-HMIS component seek

to integrate ICT into the

information management

processes of the health sector

The telemedicine components

seek to integrate ICT into the

operations and functioning of

the health facilities.

The project is expected to be

in full operational by end of

December 2012.


Regulatory Developments


Analogue- Digital Migration

The UCC carried out mass awareness

campaign for digital migration during the

period, the campaigns still continues

The procurement of the digital broadcasting

equipment was under way and expected to

be completed in time for the migration.



Post Code Pilot Project

Government of Uganda, through the Ministry of ICT

(MoICT) undertook to implement the National Postcode

project, following recommendations of a study that was

accomplished through collaboration between UPL and

UPU.

Following this decision UCC decided to support this

important undertaking by significantly contributing

towards the financing of the Pilot Phase of the project

through the Rural Communications Development Fund

(RCDF) in its 2009/2010 budget. This is an ongoing

project



RDCF

The Commission is still committed to ensuring

equity and universal access of ICTs through the

implementation of its RCDF projects. The

following was undertaken during the review

period;

School ICT integration where;

505 school ICT laboratories were completed

4,107 public pay phones were installed.



RCDF Continued

Health ICT integration: in which

installation of 103 telemedicine ICT were completed,

and

53 district health data points were created.

Portal support where

Completed 44 post office expansion, 90 GSM sites,

78 web portals and carried out 4 community user

training.



Quality of Service (QoS)

The name and shame policy is the UCC strategy that

aims to facilitate consumers to make informed choices

through the publication of comparative assessment of

telecom network quality of service performance

Comparative QoS publications for December 2011 and

March 2012 were issued

UCC also initiated a consultative process to develop an

new set of detailed regulation in respect to QoS. These

regulations shall contain revised Qos parameters,

collection methodologies, penalties among others.


Regulatory Development

Radio and Television Content Monitoring

UCC acquired a digital logger system for monitoring on- air television and

radio programs to assist the Commissions content monitoring function.

Code of Practice for Broadcasting

The Code of practice/conduct for broadcasting was developed based on the

Commission’s mandate provided in the Electronic Media Act Cap 104. The

code of practice is aim at protection consumers and also serves an

operational framework for broadcasters

Streamlining the Film and Video Industry

UCC is in a process of streamlining and developing a framework for the film

and video sub sectors. The process is scheduled to be completed in the

next FY. A number of stakeholder workshops and consultative meetings

have been held. A licensing framework has also been developed.


Annual Post, Broadcasting and Telecommunications Market ... 12 Annual post and Telecom market...

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