KAMPALA: A new report published by Pyramid Research says that the future of Uganda's telecommunications industry depends largely on the mass market and mobile technology expansion. The report titled “Uganda: Intense Competition, Mobile Rollouts and Lower Prices to Boost 3G Services” says a mixture of technologically simpler yet “sticky” data services, “such as mobile money, and more advanced applications using 3G, will be the key to revenue generation in the mobile segment.” The report was based on data from Pyramid's research and analyses in both the fixed and mobile sectors and tracks the market shares of technologies and services, and monitors the introduction and spread of new technologies. “Pyramid believes that the main drivers of growth in Uganda will be the continuing expansion of mobile subscriptions into rural areas, declining costs of voice services, as well as international bandwidth thanks to connections to coastal countries with undersea cables, further investments in 3G and intensifying competition for broadband networks.” Ministry of communications assistant deputy minister John Yunbi said that he believes the report is a solid framework for companies looking to continue to boost the IT sector in the country. “We have seen a lot of growth in recent years in the telecom sector and this new report from Pyramid definitely highlights how we can continue to push forward in the years to come and what is important for our success,” he said. On the mobile sector, “the low penetration level, along with the presence of seven mobile operators, will generate increasing voice and data revenue. In the fixed segment, urban areas offer vast opportunity for growth of broadband, and deployment of fixed wireless can aid further expansion,” the report added. BM
