By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The Minister of Information Communications Technology and National Guidance Hon. Frank Tumwebaze has urged telecommunication service providers to reduce on internet costs and to protect their clients from paying exorbitant fees while running their businesses.
The Minister made remarks while gracing the annual ICT sector review in Kampala on Friday, October 25, 2019, where he tasked the telecom operators to share facilities to cut operation costs.
“Internet is one of the cost-push factors and this one we are very serious about it and we want to see it come down immediately,” he said
Tumwebaze said Ugandans using internet for business are paying heavily. “Institutions of business don’t do business on mobile data. Mobile data is for personal communication, but offices, hotels and other institutions have dedicated internet and yet are the most expensive ones,” he said.
He added, “People pay for 3mbps, a month, so we want to bring that down. Why should I pay a million for utility? If water or electricity was to be that expensive, how many people would afford [the services]? These services have become basic requirements of life and basic requirements of production,” Tumwebaze added.
Business internet costs
MTN Uganda, the lowest cost for Lite package goes for Shs290,000 with an installation fee of Shs250,000 at speeds of up to 512Kbps, while the Standard package costs Shs422,500 monthly with an installation charge of Shs250,000 at the speed of up to 1Mbps.
This facility can be used for e-mail, web surfing, uploads, downloads, music and video streaming, internet calls and online banking for up to two to four users.
The last option is the Premium package, with speed up to 2Mbps at Shs602,500 per month and an installation fee of Shs250, 000.
Mr Tumwebaze urged the service providers to lower the costs.
Mr VG Somasekhar, the managing director of Airtel Uganda, said high taxes imposed on data determine the internet costs.
