| In 1996, the government decided
to implement sector reforms, as sit is the common belief that telecommunication
availability has a direct bearing on the development of the economy of a country. The
reforms included separating the former Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation
(UPTC) into the Uganda Postal limited, 100% government owned and Uganda Telecom limited,
in the process of selling some shares to a potential investor with ability to build and
manage a telecommunication network. The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) was also
put in place as independent operator to regulate the industry while playing an advisory
role to government on policy. In 1996, there were
about 46,207 fixed telephone lines of which about 36,472 were in the Kampala metropolitan
area. There were about 3,500 mobile lines.
A Second National Operator was licensed and started
operation in October 1998.
The table below gives a comparison of the services in
1996, when reforms were instituted and 1998; 2 years after reforms were instituted.
Table 1: Comparison of Services in 1996 and 1998
| |
1996 |
1998 |
| Fixed Telephone lines connected |
46,207 |
55,749 |
| National Telephone Operators |
1 |
2 |
| Mobile Cellular operators |
1 |
2 |
| Mobile lines |
3,500 |
40,000 |
| Internet Providers |
2 |
7 |
| Public payphone licenses |
1 |
10 |
| Paging |
2 |
3 |
| Data Networks |
2 |
5 |
|
