National Information Technology Authority (NITA) Uganda has reduced the cost of internet provision through the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) project from $70 (Shs 254,167) to $35 (Shs 127,083) for each Megabit per Second (Mbps). The revelation was made by Dr. Hatwib Mugasa, the Executive Director of NITA-Uganda.
In the financial year 2006/2007, the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of ICT secured funding towards the implementation of the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure and e-Government Infrastructure (NBI/EGI) Project. The project aimed at providing connectivity to Government Ministries and Departments in the country.
Since then, NITA-Uganda has connected 1,466 government offices, extended connectivity to 53 Districts and 10 border posts.
According to Dr. Mugasa, from the FY 2017/2018 has maintained a steady rate of $70 for each Mbps of Internet following a competitive market analysis against the average market rate which is currently at $ 84 (Shs 305,001).
“In a bid to deepen e-services usage and absorption while lowering government expenditure, we have reduced the cost of internet provision through the NBI from $70 to $35 for each Mbps,” he said.
He stated that NITA-Uganda is committed to further low bandwidth costs, deepen digitization, and accelerate e-services usage while at the same time lowering government expenditure through shared IT services like Internet and centralized hosting.
“We have been working hard to consistently lower the cost of internet bandwidth in Uganda especially for Government institutions since they provide onward services to ordinary citizens and the private sector. We are happy that we have maintained our long-term plans to lower bandwidth prices,” he said.