The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has opened a public consultation into its planned review of the country’s Telecommunications Licensing Framework. The current framework has been in place since 2006 and the regulator says industry and local market developments necessitate a review into the effectiveness of the legislation. The number of active fixed and mobile operators in Uganda has risen from just three in 2006 to 27 in 2019, the UCC says.
The UCC says the objectives of the review are: to ease market entry and increase competition and consumer choice in the telecommunications sector; to enhance quality of service (QoS) provision; to promote innovation and investment; to increase broadband rollout; to increase local ownership in the sector and hence reduce capital flight; to reduce the cost of investment in ICT infrastructure by creating efficiencies in the use of scarce resources such as spectrum; to promote a seamless transition from the existing framework into the new framework.