President Yoweri Museveni has criticised the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) for charging MTN Uganda US $58 million (about Shs 214.6 billion) for renewing its licence.
Local media reported on Tuesday that UCC had decided to charge MTN Uganda, which is owned by South Africa’s MTN Group, US $58 million to renew its licence for 10 years, instead of US $100 million (about Shs370 billion) initially set for the renewal.
Museveni, in a letter dated November 19, 2018 to the Minister of ICT and National Guidance Frank Tumwebaze and the Attorney General, said he was “astonished” by UCC’s decision to charge MTN US $58 million.
Minister Tumwebaze in a letter dated December 14, 2018 replied Museveni that UCC had decided to cut MTN’s fee to US $58 million from US$100 million after the company said it would need to invest about US $200 million to meet the conditions of a new national broadband policy.
According to Tumwebaze, the policy compels local telecom companies to invest in infrastructure so as to guarantee high quality voice calls and high data speeds across the country, including in rural areas where returns are low.
MTN Uganda is the largest telecom operator in Uganda with more than 10 million subscribers.
Museveni said that during its 20 years of operation MTN Uganda had reaped vast profits, most of which have obviously been repatriated.
“The company’s obligation to sow where it intends to reap for the next 10 years, as well as its ability to do so are and cannot be in doubt.”
MTN’s 20-year license expired last October. The firm applied for a 10-year extension and UCC gave it an interim renewal lasting 60-days pending resolution of some issues before a final license is issued.
MTN Uganda has agreed to list its shares on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) as a condition to renewing its license although the firm itself is yet to confirm this.