The Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) seeks to increase the usage of information and communication technologies ICT infrastructures in the far-to-reach areas of the country to improve rural telecommunication access.
Speaking at an event where Ubuntu Towers rebranded to Towerco of Africa a telecommunication tower construction company at Serena Hotel in Kampala, Joyce Nabbosa Ssebugwawo the State Minister for ICT revealed that the UCC put in place the rural communication development fund a connectivity program under the Ministry of ICT aimed at providing better infrastructures in rural areas to close the connectivity gap and also improve access.
The Minister also highlighted that the coming of another player in the tower construction business will help to drive greater innovations and progress in Uganda’s ICT sector as they are determined to build telecommunication towers mostly in rural areas where there is no connectivity.
Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo the Director for Engineering and Communication Infrastructure at UCC expressed the need for tower building companies to cover the rural areas to leave no one behind by putting coverage everywhere.
She added that currently the central regions are covered but there are many black spots in the upcountry regions where connectivity is still poor, she applauded Towerco of Africa for taking a direction of building telecom towers mostly in the far and hard-to-reach areas to connect all Ugandans.
Geoffrey Oketayot the executive director of Ubuntu Towers an indigenous company that rebranded to Towerco of Africa a fully owned subsidiary of Axian Telecom highlighted that they seek to improve rural telecommunication access in the far-reach areas where there is no network coverage.
Oketayot added that in a bid to achieve the desired goal, they got into, a partnership by acquisitions with other partners leading to a change of name to Towerco of Africa. He also said that the telecom tower business is cash intensive and that partnership with Towerco of Africa has supported growing business with over 40 Million dollars in funds invested currently.
According to the statistics the telecommunication industry covers about 70 percent of the land masts leaving a gap of 30 percent which is not covered that they want to explore Oketayot revealed.
He also said that during their operations in Uganda as Towerco of Africa, they seek to go green to preserve the environment as their differentiator from other players as 70 percent of their networks are powered by solar connectivity.
Stephane Beuvelet the chief executive officer of Towerco of Africa the telecom infrastructure development contributes electronically to various sectors such as education, farming, and transport among others.
He also said that they are to ensure equitable tower sharing among their customers which are the telecom companies by sharing the same heights on the tower and proper power sharing.