Uganda’s minister of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) Frank Tumwebaze has on Friday addressed the Press at Uganda Media Centre on the great initiative of providing free WiFi to Uganda’s central business district Kampala and parts of Entebbe, effective 1st October 2016.
Through its mandated agency National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U), the Ministry of Information Communication Technology has also partnered with the Research Education Network of Uganda (RENU) to connect over 50 campuses across the country and Research Institutions as part of the programme to connect targeted user groups to the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI).
The ministry will be providing free Wi-Fi services between 6:00 pm and 6:00 am on week-days, over the weekends; Wi-Fi will be free from Saturday 3:00 pm through to Monday 6:00 am.
“These targeted user groups are receiving internet bandwidth at about USD 130 per Mbps. Gradually we shall scale up and reach out to upcountry. This is a starting point,” the minister said.
He noted that with President Museveni’s support, Phases I and II of NBI were completed and Phase III of the NBI is nearing completion.
“As a result, 169 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Local Governments (LGs) are now connected, 102 MDAs are being connected this FY 16/17, and more will be connected in the coming years. The MDAs / LGs connected to the NBI are using it to receive internet bandwidth, making financial transactions, and integrating with other MDA IT systems, to improve service delivery to citizens,” He urged.
“Over time, we have seen the benefits of rolling out the National Data Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) in terms of increased productivity, efficiency and reduced costs of internet bandwidth. Internet Costs have reduced from USD 1200 to USD 300 per megabit per second per month in 2010 and 2016 respectively,”
The ICT ministry team will with its stakeholders officially launch the Wi-Fi service at the end of October 2016.
Frank Tumwebaze encourages all citizens to explore the new world of opportunities being offered through free Wi-Fi Internet access.
cnakalungi@ugchristiannews.com
