Postal, Broadcasting and Telecommunications Annual Market & Industry … Market Industry... ·...

1 |ANNUAL MARKET REPORT 2014/2015 FINANCIAL YEAR

Postal, Broadcasting and

Telecommunications Annual

Market & Industry Report

2014/15.


LEGAL DISCALIMER

The information and figures contained herein were obtained from licensees’

submissions to Uganda Communications Commission and other sources available

to the Commission. It is intended to provide an overview of the industry

performance to the stakeholders for the period 1st July 2014 to 30th June 2015

financial year. UCC does not give any warranty and is not be liable for any loss or

damage arising from its use or misuse.


TABLE OF CONTENT

Contents Page

LIST OF ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................................................... 4

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................................. 6

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK IN COMMUNICATIONS PERSPECTIVE ........................................................................ 7

UGANDA’S GDP TREND AND TELEDENSITY ............................................................................................................... 8

TELEDENSITY AND POPULATION GROWTH RATES .............................................................................................. 9

INFLATION AS AN ECONOMIC DEFLATOR ................................................................................................................10

THE TREND IN FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES IN UGX PER USD ................................................................11

ICT DEVELOPMENT-THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE ................................................................................................13

THE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE ..........................................................................................................................................15

THE COMMUNICATIONS SECTOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO TAX REVENUE ..............................................15

SUBSCRIPTION AND PENETRATION ..............................................................................................................................16

MOBILE SUBSCRIPTION .........................................................................................................................................................16

FIXED SUBSCRIPTION .............................................................................................................................................................16

BANDWIDTH ...................................................................................................................................................................................18

TRAFFIC ............................................................................................................................................................................................19

INTERNET SUBSCRIPTION AND USE .............................................................................................................................20

TARIFFS ............................................................................................................................................................................................21

POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICES..................................................................................................................................24

INTERNATIONAL POSTAL TRAFFICS ............................................................................................................................25

POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICE PROVIDERS .......................................................................................................26

BROADCASTING SERVICES .................................................................................................................................................27

OTHER DEVELOPMENT IN THE BROADCASTING SUBSECTOR ..................................................................29

THE DIGITAL MIGRATION ....................................................................................................................................................30

DIGITAL MIGRATION TIMELINE.......................................................................................................................................31

MOBILE MONEY (MM) ..............................................................................................................................................................32

CONSUMER AFFAIRS ...............................................................................................................................................................34

CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................................................................35


LIST OF ACRONYMS

CIS Commonwealth of Independent States

EAC East African Community

EMS Expedited Mail Services

FY Financial Year

GDP Gross Domestic Product

ICT Information Communication Technology

UCC Uganda Communications Commission


FOREWORD

The communications industry is dynamic with constant evolution of new ideas,

business models and ways of doing things. In this industry, the stakeholders

need to embrace the dynamics of new innovations and ICT technological

developments, and in most cases embrace and take advantage of the

opportunities they present.

The information presented in this report is a reflection of the sector performance

for the Financial Year 2014/2015 or rather the period from 1st July 2014 to 30th

June 2015. The following are what is covered in this report:

1. The Global Perspective

2. The EAC Perspective

3. The National Economic Outlook Perspective

4. The Fixed Telephony

5. The Mobile Telephony

6. The Broadband and Internet

7. The Broadcasting sub sector

8. The Postal and Courier sub sector

9. The Consumer Affairs

As a result of the significant impact of communications services in business,

political and economic domains, the Commission has undertaken numerous

interventions to enhance and attract innovations and investment in the sector

with the creation of an enabling and competitive environment, a clear focus on

quality of service and addressing consumer concerns.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

For the period under review, the total

sector contribution to tax revenue

grew by 40.9% up from UGX

434.75bn to UGX 484.42bn. This is a

higher growth than the 3.3% growth

realised in the previous FY.

A total of 113,159 new fixed line

subscribers were registered by June

2015. This represents a 43% growth

in fixed subscription, much higher

than the 26.5% growth in fixed

subscription registered in the period

July 2013 to June 2014.

The cumulative number of new

mobile subscribers was 2,815,763 by

June 2015. This 14.6% growth in

mobile subscription is lower than the

15.5% growth registered in the period

July 2013 to June 2014.

The observed subscriptions growth in

the 2014/15 FY resulted into a

19.9% growth in tele-density up to

63.9% in contrast to the 53.3%

realised in the period July 2013 to

June 2014.

The communications sector has

continued to register positive growth

in bandwidth usage. During the

review period, a growth of 15.7% was

registered, from 26,986 Mbps to

31,222.79 Mbps in comparison to the

previous financial year.

The estimated number of internet

subscribers and internet users has

also grown in the review period in

comparison to the last financial year

ending June 2014. For the period

July 2014 to June 2015, the

estimated number of internet

subscribers and users grew by 43.6%

and 55.2% respectively, giving an

approximate internet penetration of

37.3% by June 2015.

During the same period, on-net traffic

dropped by 11% (1,408,438,426

minutes) compared to the 4.8% drop

registered in the previous year. The

off-net traffic dropped by 48.3%

(1,070,397) compared to the 26.1%

increase realised in the previous year,

while both the international outgoing

traffic and the international incoming

traffic respectively increased by 7.1%

(18,508,700.75 minutes) and 16.3%

(27,528,105.12 minutes).

The postal subsector continued to

register declines in domestic ordinary


letters posted. There has been a

21.3% decrease from the 881,028

letters posted in the previous year, to

the 693,453 letters posted between

July 2014 and June 2015. However

the number of domestic registered

letters posted increased from 17,319

to 17,530.

The domestic Expedited Mail Services

(EMS) dropped from 181,455 to

143,207 by June 2015, representing

a 21.1% drop.

There was no significant change in

the number of service providers in

the broadcasting subsector, save for

10 (ten) new FM radio stations

licensed during the review period.

Regarding the consumer related

issues, in the period under review, a

total of 291 second level complaints

were received by UCC, down from the

293 received in the period July 2013

to June 2014. This is a 0.7% drop in

complaints received over the review

period. The majority of complaints

registered were related to billing

queries. These were followed by

unsolicited messages, mobile money

and data queries, in that order. This

trend was unchanged from the


Of the complaints registered in the

period July 2014 to June 2015, 69%

were received through phone calls,

18.8% through email, 2.5% through

the Post, 5.5% were walk-ins, and

4.1% were received through social

media.

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK IN COMMUNICATIONS PERSPECTIVE

Economic Enablers and Deflators

There are macroeconomic indicators

that influence the uptake of

communications services. These

include GDP, GDP growth rate, GDP

per capita, Income per capita,

population and population growth

rates, employment and inflation rates

among others.

Below are some comparative data for

EAC states for the selected macro-

economic indicators.

According to the World Bank (2015),

the population statistics for the EAC

member states is: 51.4 million in

Tanzania, 43 million in Kenya, 34.9

million in Uganda, 12.7 million in


Rwanda, and 11.2 million in

Burundi. With this population, the

uptake of communications services

within EAC states should be

commensurate with population

growth.

In contrast, Kenya leads the EAC

states in tele-density and internet

penetration. It is followed by Rwanda

(in tele-density) and Uganda (in

Internet penetration). Notably, only

Kenya has an internet penetration

rate above 50%.

Figure 1. Comparative data on Population, GDP, Tele density and Internet

penetration among EAC states.

[Source: World Bank and Country Website]

UGANDA’S GDP TREND AND TELEDENSITY

GDP, as a macro-economic indicator

of aggregate wealth is associated with

the uptake of communications

services. Tele-density (telephone

density) is the number of telephone

connections for every hundred

individuals living within a defined

geographical area (in this case

country).

For the period under review Uganda‟s

Tele-density as a proxy for the

consumption of communications

services, appears to be increasing

with increase in Uganda‟s GDP. This

12.7 7.9

73

25.4

34.9

26.3

63.9

33.7

43

60.9

86

68.8

51.4 49.2

71

22

11.2 3.1

31.1

5.7

POPULATION (MILLIONS) GDP IN BN USD TELEDENSITY INTERNET PENETRATION

RWANDA UGANDA KENYA TANZANIA BURUNDI


means that for the economy to

register faster growth in tele-density,

there should be a corresponding

increase in the allocation of resources

towards factors responsible for GDP

growth.

Figure 2. Relationship between Uganda’s GDP and Tele-density

Data source: UCC/UBOS

TELEDENSITY AND POPULATION GROWTH RATES

The growth rate of Uganda‟s tele-

density is the fastest in the EAC

region. This rapid tele-density growth

rate practically tracks the population

growth rate in Uganda, and bodes

well for the universal telephone

coverage that the country seeks to

achieve as part of its Vision

2040aspirations.

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Teledensity 31.6 33.5 45.6 46.5 47.7 53.3 63.9

GDP (BN) 28,176 33,596 37,412 45,944 53,202 59,202 68,400

-

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

80,000

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

TELE

DEN

SITY


Fig. 3: Tele density and Population growth rates

Data source: Country Website and World Bank

INFLATION AS AN ECONOMIC DEFLATOR

As indicated in Figure 4 below, the

majority of fluctuations in inflation

over time for all the EAC states have

been between 5 and 15%. A closer

look at the patterns shows that by

2004, Rwanda had the second

highest inflation rate which had been

fluctuating downwards and by 2015,

it has registered the lowest rate (3.6)

compared to the rest of the member

states. The analysis puts Kenya at

the highest rate (6.6) in 2015.

RWANDA UGANDA KENYA TANZANIA

6.6

19.7

8.6

10.9

2.6 2.9 2.1 2.8

Teledensity growth rate Population growth rate


Figure 4. Inflation Patterns in EAC states

Data source: World Bank

THE TREND IN FOREIGN EXCHANGE RATES IN UGX PER USD

Over time as shown in Figure 5

below, Uganda shilling has steadily

been depreciating against US Dollar.

And since 2009, the depreciation rate

has been increasing at an increasing

rate. The effect of this depreciation is

that imports, which account for the

majority of the capex in the sector,

have increasingly become more

expensive. With practically all

revenues in the communications

sector being in UGX, this

depreciation has impacted the bottom

line of the majority of service

providers in the sector.

Furthermore, since the exchange rate

is a proxy of a country's

competitiveness in the global market,

this depreciation of the UGX is

indicative of weakening and or an

erosion of Uganda‟s competitiveness

and as a destination for investment

capital.

-5

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

UGANDA KENYA TANZANIA RWANDA


Figure 5. Exchange rates trend

Data source: Bank of Uganda website

INFLATION PATTERNS IN REST OF THE WORLD

The figure below shows the average

inflation patterns for the world,

advanced economies and developing

economies. Inflation trends for all

categories of countries has mirrored

each other for the last three years,

however, the average inflation rate for

developing economies has remained

higher.

Fig. 6: Global Aggregates: Headline inflation

RATE, 3,199.90

-

500.00

1,000.00

1,500.00

2,000.00

2,500.00

3,000.00

3,500.00

Exch

ange

Rat

es


Data source: World Economic Outlook

ICT DEVELOPMENT-THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

According to ITU, over the past 15

years the ICT revolution has driven

global development in an

unprecedented way. Technological

progress, infrastructure deployment,

and falling prices have brought

unexpected growth in ICT access and

connectivity to billions of people

around the world.

In 2015 there are more than 7

billion mobile cellular

subscriptions worldwide, up

from less than 1 billion in

2000, corresponding to a world

penetration rate of 97%.

Globally 3.2 billion people are

using the Internet of which 2

billion are from developing

countries.

4 billion people from developing

countries remain offline,

representing 2/3 of the

population residing in

developing countries.

Of the 940 million people living

in the least developed countries

(LDCs), only 89 million use

Internet, corresponding to a

9.5% penetration rate.

Between 2000-2015, global

Internet penetration grew 7 fold

from 6.5% to 43%. Mobile

broadband is the most dynamic

market segment; globally,

mobile broadband penetration

reaches 47% in 2015, a value

that increased 12 times since

2007.

The proportion of households

with Internet access at home

increased from 18% in 2005 to

46% in 2015

Fixed-broadband uptake is

growing at a slower pace, with

a 7% annual increase over the

past three years and reaching

11% penetration by end 2015

The proportion of the

population covered by a 2G

mobile-cellular network grew

from 58% in 2001 to 95% in

2015


3G mobile broadband coverage

has been on the rise. With

world population of 7.4bn in

2015 as estimated, 3G

population coverage hits 69%

up from 45% realised in 2011.

With the estimated world rural

population of 3.4bn in 2015,

3G penetration stands at 29%.

The urban penetration however

stands at 89% of the estimated

urban population of 4bn.

Fig 7: % of Households with internet access Fig 8: % of

individuals using the internet

Source: www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/statistics

Fig 9: Fig 10:

Source: www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/statistics

82.1

60

60.1

40.3

39

10.7

81.3

46.4

34.1

6.7

0 50 100

EUROPE

THE AMERICAS

CIS

ARAB STATES

ASIA & PACIFIC

AFRICA

DEVELOPED

WORLD

DEVELOPING

LDCS

77.6

66

59.9

37

36.9

20.7

82.2

43.3

35.3

9.5

0 20 40 60 80 100

EUROPE

THE AMERICAS

CIS

ARAB STATES

ASIA & PACIFIC

AFRICA

DEVELOPED

WORLD

DEVELOPING

LDCS

78.2

77.6

49.7

40.6

42.3

17.4

86.7

46.1

39.1

12.1

0 20 40 60 80 100

EUROPE

THE AMERICAS

CIS

ARAB STATES

ASIA & PACIFIC

AFRICA

DEVELOPED

WORLD

DEVELOPING

LDCS

29.6

18

13.6

3.7

8.9

0.5

29

10.8

7.1

0.5

0 10 20 30 40

EUROPE

THE AMERICAS

CIS

ARAB STATES

ASIA & PACIFIC

AFRICA

DEVELOPED

WORLD

DEVELOPING

LDCS

http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/statistics

http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/statistics


THE NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

Since its establishment as the sector regulator, the Uganda Communications

Commission has licensed a number of communications service providers of

various categories offering International, Regional, national and domestic services

as listed below.

Table 1. Number of licensed service providers in the country, 2015.

Category Licensed

National Postal Operator 1

Domestic Courier Operators 11

Regional Courier Operators 5

International Courier Operators 8

National Telecom Operators (NTO) 2

Public Infrastructure Providers (PIP) 25

Public Service Provider (PSP) - Voice & Data 36

PSP (Capacity Resale) 07

TV stations (analog) 28

Digital TV stations 05

FM Radio stations 292

Telecom operators offering Mobile Money enhancement 04

THE COMMUNICATIONS SECTOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO TAX REVENUE

During the period July 2014 to June

2015, both Exercise and PAYE grew

by 8% and 9% respectively. There

was a 17.4% drop in revenue

collected from VAT. However total

sector contribution to tax revenue

grew by 40.9% up from UGX

434.75bn in FY 2013/14 to UGX

484.42bn in FY 2014/15. This is a

higher growth rate than the 3.3%

growth in the previous FY.


Figure 11. Tax revenue in millions

SUBSCRIPTION AND PENETRATION

MOBILE SUBSCRIPTION

A total of 2,815,763 new mobile

subscribers were registered in the FY

ending June 2015. This is a 14.6% growth

in mobile subscription, and lower than the

15.5% subscription growth registered in

the previous period (July 2013 to June

2014). Total mobile phone subscriptions

now stand at 21,910,948.

FIXED SUBSCRIPTION

2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

Excise 88,775 98,001 100,750 113,319 154,869 170,431 291,907

VAT 54,628 94,278 68,245 98,330 134,723 129,663 152,209

PAYE 12,176 22,562 30,643 33,252 43,138 43,659 40,305

Total 155,579 214,841 199,638 244,901 332,730 343,753 484,421

-

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

-

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000


A total of 113,159 new fixed subscribers

were registered in the FY 2014/15. This

is a 43% growth and higher than the

26.5% growth in fixed subscription

registered in the previous FY 2013/2014.

Total fixed subscriptions now stand at

375,689.

Tele density

The above subscriptions growth resulted

into a 10.6% growth in tele density, from

53.3% in 2013/14 to 63.9% in FY

2014/15.

Table 2: Fixed, Mobile and Total Subscription

Fixed and

Mobile

Subscriptions

2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/2015

Fixed

213,820

265,890

342,624

330,989

207,474

262,530

375,689

Mobile

9,464,979

10,375,220

14,676,505

15,535,989

16,665,310

19,244,020

21,910,948

Total

9,678,799

10,641,110

15,019,129

15,866,978

16,872,784

19,506,550

22,286,637


Figure 12. Total Subscription and Teledensity

BANDWIDTH

The sector has continued to register

positive growth in bandwidth. During

the review period, a 15.7% growth

was registered resulting to a total

bandwidth of 31,222.79mbps up

from 26,986.05mbps realised in the

previous year.

31.6 33.5

45.6 46.5 47.7

53.3

63.9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

-

5,000,000

10,000,000

15,000,000

20,000,000

25,000,000

2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

Subscription Teledensity


Figure 13. Total bandwidth and bandwidth per million inhabitants

TRAFFIC

Voice traffic

On-net and off net-traffic

During the period under review, the

on net traffic dropped by 10.6%

(1,408,438,426 minutes), a larger

drop than the 4.8% experienced in

2013/14 financial year. Off-net traffic

dropped by 48.3% (1,070,394,171),

reflecting a decrease in interconnect

revenue compared to the 26.1%

growth registered in the previous FY.

Both the international outgoing

traffic and the international incoming

traffic grew by 7.1% (18,508,701

minutes) and 7.7% (27,528,105

minutes) respectively. This is a

positive development compared to the

2.3% and the 16.3% drops in

international outgoing and incoming

traffic respectively that were

registered in the previous FY.

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

Total Bandwidth 5,145.70 15,739.20 22,664.45 25,678.82 26,986.05 31,222.75

Bandwidth per 1,000,000 inhabitants 161.89 477.82 664.04 726.27 737.01 895.74

-

100.00

200.00

300.00

400.00

500.00

600.00

700.00

800.00

900.00

1,000.00

-

5,000.00

10,000.00

15,000.00

20,000.00

25,000.00

30,000.00

35,000.00To

tal B

and

wid

th


Figure 14: Traffic trend

INTERNET SUBSCRIPTION AND USE

As estimated, the number of internet

subscribers and internet users

continued to grow as illustrated

below. For the period under review,

the number of internet subscribers

and users grew respectively by 44%

and 52% resulting in a 37.3%

internet penetration as of June 2015.

2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

on net 5,423 6,500 9,385 11,131 14,002 13,335 11,926

Off net 1,065 827 3,042 1,716 1,758 2,217 1,147

International Outgoing 147 107 173 228 266 260 278

International incoming 399 460 426 357 384

-

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

TRA

FFIC

IN

MIL

LIO

NS

OF

MIN

UTE

S

TRAFFIC TREND


Figure 15. Estimated internet subscription and estimated internet users.

(Est) means estimated

TARIFFS

By June 2015, K2 Telecom and UTL

were offering the lowest per second

voice rates (3/= per second)

compared to the rates charged by

other service providers. The lowest

international voice rates per second

is offered by UTL (UGX 3) followed by

Vodafone (UGX 5). However, these

rates vary based on the country of

voice traffic termination. Due to the

competitive nature and varied data

offerings by operators, the majority of

internet tariffs available are based on

data bundles / plans with duration

limits. The Digital pay TV pricing also

varies based on the channel

bouquets, duration of subscription

and the service provider. For more

information on tariffs in Uganda,

please check www.kompare.ug and

www.price-check.co.ug.

2008/9 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

Subscriptions (Est) 58,648 541,000 934,758 1,679,259 3,556,851 4,303,013 6,179,698

Users (Est) 2,800,000 3,500,000 4,662,240 5,700,000 6,800,000 8,531,081 12,986,216

-

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

14,000,000

SUB

SCR

IBER

S A

ND

USE

RS

ESTIMATED INTERNET SUBSCRIBERS AND USERS

http://www.kompare.ug/

http://www.price-check.co.ug/


Table 3: Voice Tariffs (Local)

Provider Plan Name On-net Rate Per

second

Off-Net rate Per

second

Smart Standard Local 4 5

K2 Tariff Rate 3 4

Vodafone Per second 5 5

Airtel Payphone Tariffs 3.6 5

Airtel Airtel Zone 6 7

UTL Tariffs 3 4

UTL GSM Fixed 3.5 4

UTL Utl Standard Rates 3 4

Africell Talk Now Per

Second

4 7

Africell Talk Now Per

Minute

4 6

Africell Talk more Per

Second

5 5

MTN MTN Per Minute 5 5

MTN MTN Per Second 5.5 5.5

MTN MTN Pay Phone 1 3

MTN MTN Easy Talk 4 4

MTN MTN Zone 7.5 7.5

MTN MTN Fixed 5 5.5


Table 4: Voice Tariffs (International)

The international tariffs are charged based on the zones of service. The rates

provided below are mainly averages from the different zones of service.

Provider Average Price per second

Smart 40

K2 13

Vodafone 21

Airtel 26

UTL 8

Africel 11

MTN 16

Table 5: Data Tariffs

Provider Plan Name Validity Technology Average

Data

(MB)

Average

Price

Average Daily Rates

Smart Smart BYB

Data Bundle

1 Day 3G 123.5 574.1

UTL Mobile Data

Bundle

1 Day GSM/GPRS/EDGE 75 800

MTN Mobile Data

Bundle

1 Day 4G/LTE 27 667

Vodafone 24 Hr Mini 1 Day 4G 50 1,000

Airtel Data Bundle 1 Day 3.75G 57 860

Africell Data Bundle 1 Day 3.7G 58 1,667

Average Weekly Rates

Africell Data Bundle 1 week 3.7G 238 15,000


Smart Smart BYB

Data Bundle

1 week 3G 357 3,285

UTL Mobile Data

Bundle

7 Days GSM/GPRS/EDGE 100 2,000

MTN Mobile Data

Bundle

7 Days 4G/LTE 67 2,667

Vodafone 7 Day 7 Days 4G 500 14,400

Airtel Data Bundle 7 Day 3.75G 440 16,071

Average Monthly Rates

Smart Smart BYB

Data Bundle

1

Month

3G 663 11,874

UTL Mobile Data

Bundle

1

Month

GSM/GPRS/EDGE 3,900 64,500

Smile Smile Anytime

Bundle

1

Month

4G 4,150 151,750

MTN Mobile Data

Bundle

1

Month

4G/LTE 3,692 64,300

Tangerine Evo Unlimited 1

Month

3G 6,000 148,333

Tangerine WiMAX/EVDO 1

Month

4G 17,969 281,437

Vodafone 30 Day

Bundle

1

Month

4G 9,583 119,900

Airtel Data Bundle 1

Month

3.75G 9,115 115,208

Africel Data Bundle 1

Month

3.7G 7,618 104,097

POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICES

The number of domestic ordinary

letter posted dropped from 881,028

to 693,453 from the end of June

2014 to the beginning of July 2015,


representing a 21% drop. The

Domestic Expedited Mail Service

numbers dropped by 21% from

181,455 to 143,207. However, there

had been a 1% increase in Domestic

registered letters post from 17,319 to

17,530 for the period under review.

Fig. 16. Postal services

INTERNATIONAL POSTAL TRAFFICS

The number of incoming European

letters was highest, compared to the

outgoing ones. The number of letters

coming into Uganda from the East

African states was higher than those

posted from Uganda to rest of the EA

region.

1,080,945

1,425,099 1,388,419

997,399

881,028

693,453

36,456 23,412 20,130 14,348 17,319 17,530

106,707

230,998 173,236 197,630 181,455

143,207

-

200,000

400,000

600,000

800,000

1,000,000

1,200,000

1,400,000

1,600,000

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

Domestic Ordinary Letter posted Domestic Registered letter posted Domestic EMS


Figure 17: International Postal Traffic

POSTAL AND COURIER SERVICE PROVIDERS

The number of service providers in

the postal subsector remained

unchanged for the period under

review. The exception was the

number of Regional and Domestic

Curriers which dropped by two each.

With respect to regional couriers,

Skynet Uganda Ltd and East African

Couriers had their licenses revoked;

while for domestic couriers, Country

Safaris and Kampala Coach Ltd also

had their licenses revoked.

5,970

1,308

57,117

13,453

- 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000

East African Letter post Incoming

East African Letter post Outgoing

European letter post Incoming

European letter post Outgoing


Table 6. Showing number of postal and currier service providers in the

Country

Service

providers

June

2009

June

2010

June

2011

June

2012

June

2013

June

2014

June

2015

Major postal 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

International

currier

6 7 8 8 8 8 8

Regional

currier

8 8 8 6 7 7 5

Domestic

currier

8 14 14 13 13 13 11

BROADCASTING SERVICES

The broadcasting industry is pivotal

in the mobilization of the public for

the socio-economic development of

most countries in sub-Saharan

Africa. This it does through

educational, informational and

entertainment programmes. For

Uganda, broadcasting is the main

channel for the implementation of the

National Development Plan and

Vision that envisages having “A

transformed Ugandan society from

a peasant to a modern and

prosperous country within 30

years” as indicated in the Uganda

Vision 2040 plan. As an essential

facilitator of this broader plan, the

broadcasting enables the

dissemination of information about

services aimed at addressing the

needs of the poor, vulnerable and

marginalized groups in society. In

addition, broadcasting is responsible

for keeping the nation informed of the

national and the international events.

It also aims to promote the delivery of

high quality and efficient


broadcasting services by both public

and private service providers.

In this subsector, the number of

service providers changed only

slightly with the licensing of an

additional ten FM radio stations,

during the period under review.

It should also be noted that the

licenses for three radio stations were

revoked during the just ended

financial year, namely: Bugisu

cooperative union; Baptist Mission

Kanungu; and Radio Management

services in Jinja.

Table 7. Number of Operational TV and FM radios

Service

stations

June 2011 June 2012 June 2013 June

2014

June

2015

Operational

analogue

TV stations

54 60 68 67 28

Non-

operational

analogue

TV stations

14 10 10 4 2

Operational

Digital

Terrestrial

TV stations

3 3 3 3

Operational

Digital

Satellite TV

stations

1 1 2 2 2

Operational

FM radio

stations

229 250 251 257 292


Non

Operational

FM radio

stations

48 36 35 40 12

OTHER DEVELOPMENT IN THE BROADCASTING SUBSECTOR

In a bid to set standards, monitor

and enforce compliance relating to

content as one of the Commission‟s

mandate, the Commission has set

local content quotas on Ugandan

television broadcasting stations with

the objective of promoting national

culture, pluralism and diversity and

to enhance the employment capacity,

identity of the nationals as well as

developing the local film and radio

industry.

In accordance with the National

Broadcasting Policy, local content is

defined as “content that recognizes

the cultural and linguistic diversity of

Uganda carrying themes of relevance

to the local audience and produced

under Ugandan‟s creative control”.

UCC has identified the genres of

drama, documentary, sports and

children‟s entertainment as needing

special attention, and it set a 70%

local content quota with special

attention on drama (50%),

documentary (10%), and sports (5%)

and children (5%) each.


Figure 16; Pie- chart showing the recommended local content quotas per

genre

THE DIGITAL MIGRATION

Analogue to Digital Migration is the

process in which broadcasting

services offered on the traditional

analog technology are replaced

with digital based networks over a

specific period. The transition or

switch from analog television

to digital television is referred to as

the Digital Migration. Digital signals

take up much less bandwidth

compared to analog and this means

that more channels can be

broadcast with the same

amount of spectrum.

The Analogue to Digital

Migration arises out of the

Regional Radio-

Local Children Program

5%

Local Sport Program 5%

Local documentery 10%

Other foreign content

30%

Local drama 50%


communications Conference of 2006 (RRC06) and the subsequent Geneva

2006 Agreement (GE06) of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

„Recommendations‟ of which Uganda is a party and signatory. All countries

signatory to this agreement agreed to migrate from analogue to digital

broadcasting services by June 2015.

In one of the first major moves to

migrate the country to Digital TV,

the Uganda Communications

Commission (UCC) on Monday 15

June 2015, ordered broadcasters to

switch off their analogue

transmissions in and around

Kampala. As expected most of the

broadcasters complied, and

Television consumers in this market

who had not transitioned from their

old analog TV sets were switched off.

DIGITAL MIGRATION TIMELINE

Date Phase Area Covered

17th June 2015 ITU Deadline All ITU signatories

15 June 2015 Phase I Greater Kampala (This

region includes

Kampala, Entebbe and

parts of Masaka, Jinja,

Nakasongola, Mityana

and Mubende)

September 2015 Phase II (17 SITES) Arua, Gulu, Lira,

Masindi, Soroti, Hoima,

Kiboga, Mbale,

Kabarole, Jinja, Wakiso,

Masaka, Mbarara,

Rukungiri, Ntungamo,

Kabale, Kisoro.

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/tech/digital_broadcasting/project-dbasiapacific/Digital-Migration-Guidelines_EV6.pdf

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/tech/digital_broadcasting/project-dbasiapacific/Digital-Migration-Guidelines_EV6.pdf


Phase III (9 SITES) Moyo, Kitgum, Kotido,

Kapchorwa,

Nakasongola, Tororo,

Bundibugyo, Mubende,

Kasese.

There will be a dual illumination

period, when both analogue TVs

broadcasting will co-exist with digital

TV broadcasting, up to such a time

when the DTT infrastructure

necessary for digital signal

distribution has been fully

established in Uganda.

MOBILE MONEY (MM)

Mobile money services is one of many

value-added services that since

gained a significant foothold in the

communications sector. Since its

introduction about five years ago,

mobile money services have grown by

leaps and bounds, to the point where

much as mobile telephony

subscription grew faster than MM

subscription (14% compared to 10%),

when one makes adjustment for the

multi-SIM culture and environment

in Uganda, MM subscription actually

grew faster than mobile telephony

subscription. For the review period,

the number of mobile money

subscribers grew by 10%, resulting

into 1,846,773 new mobile money

subscribers. On the other hand, the

number of mobile SIMs subscribers

grew by 14% bringing on board

2,666,928 new mobile subscribers.

The drop in the growth rate of the

mobile money subscribers is partly

attributed to inability of the agent

network expanding fast enough to

cope with extra demand for cash-in

and cash-out services needed by

subscribers.

Figure 19. Comparison of mobile phones and mobile money subscribers’ statistics


For the last three financial years, the

number and the value of transactions

have been on the increase. For the

review period the number of

transactions grew by 24%

(46,255,000) and the value of

transactions grew by 43.4% or UGX

3,599.1 billion.

Figure. 20. Number of transactions and value of transactions this year

15,535,989 16,665,310

19,244,020

21,910,948

5,662,871

12,117,821

17,644,162

19,490,935

-

5,000,000

10,000,000

15,000,000

20,000,000

25,000,000

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/2015

No of mobile subscribers Mobile Money Registered subscribers

10%

89% of mob subs

14

%

47

%

16

%


CONSUMER AFFAIRS

The Uganda Communications

Commission is mandated to protect

interests of consumers in the

Communications sector. Monitoring

the efficacy of the consumer

complaints handling systems of

service providers is critical to the

Commission‟s fulfillment of its

consumer protection mandate.

It should be noted that the UCC only

handles second level consumers

complaints, and as such requires to

first seek redress and or remedy from

service providers. If dissatisfied with

the service provider‟s remedial

actions or solutions, consumers can

then can lodge their complaint with

UCC. The data in Figure 21, capture

these second level consumer

complaints that are brought to the

UCC. The figures may, however,

include some first level complaints to

UCC by consumers who claim

inability to access the service

providers.

In the period under review, a total of

291 complaints were received, a

decline of 0.7% from 293 received in

2013/14 financial year. Ranked in

descending order, the highest

number of complaints received by

UCC were related to billing. These are

followed by complaints about

unsolicited messages, mobile money

and lastly data related complaints.

This was the trend as well in the


2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

No of transactions'000 2,840 28,820 87,500 241,727 207,098 496,269

Value of transactions (billions) 132.6 962.7 3,753 11,662.8 18,982.5 24,053.9

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

-

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

Number and Value of Transactions

Va

lue

of

tra

nsa

ctio

n

Nu

mb

er o

f tra

nsa

ctio

n


With regards to the modes or

channels through which complaints

were submitted during the period of

review, 69% were received through

phone calls, 18.8% were through

email, 2.5% were through post, 5.5%

were walk-ins, and 4.1% came in

through social media.

Figure. 21. Nature of complaints handled

CONCLUSION

This report has been compiled

entirely from the data reported by

licensees to the UCC. A major

challenge in the compilation of this

report is late data submissions by the

licensees. The other challenge is

related to the potential bias that

creeps into such a report from self-

reporting. The UCC has instituted

plans to ensure timely submission of

data by licensees. This report has

been compiled by Economic

Regulation Unit, within the

Directorate of Competition &

Consumer affairs of the Uganda

Communications Commission.

65

3

76

26

7

14

30

1

2

11

27

0

0

23

59

7

105

65

12

4

24

5

3

13

15

21

51

19

29

9

175

12

7

17

91

37

16

10

5

3

75

18

UNSOLICITED SMS

CALLER RINGBACK TUNES

BILLING

INTERNET / DATA SERVICES

SIMCARD REGISTRATION

QUALITY OF SERVICE RELATED ISSUES

MOBILE MONEY SERVICES

AIRTIME LOADING

PROMOTIONS

VALUE ADDED SERVICES

BROADCASTING

MISPLACED COMPLAINTS

DROPPED CALLS

OTHERS

2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

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