Uganda: Government secures $486.7 million loan from World Bank to improve internet access
March 15th 2023
The Ugandan government wants to accelerate its digital transformation as part of its socio-economic development program. Kampala had started its journey towards digitalization in 2016, notably with the financial support of the World Bank.
The Ugandan government has secured an 1.8 trillion shillings (486.7 million USD) loan from the World Bank to expand internet access in the country. This was revealed last week by Charles Oleny Ojok, Deputy Director General of the National Planning Authority (NPA).
This funding will be used to implement the nationwide connectivity project. The project will start later this year. It will see the extension of the national fiber optic backbone to connect all rural and hard-to-reach areas of Uganda.
“ Both Parliament and Cabinet have given their consent to the Ministry of Finance to go ahead and secure this loan. This initiative is one of the most significant as it will transform the entire country and provide connectivity to homes, businesses and government entities across Uganda ,” Mr. Ojok said.
This program is part of the Ugandan government’s ambition to accelerate digital transformation to support economic recovery, create unlimited opportunities for youth and achieve “Vision 2040”.
In addition, Kampala had already benefited from financial support from the World Bank for its Regional Communication Infrastructure Program (RCIP) launched in 2016. This program cost $775 million and enabled Uganda to lay the foundations for its digitization.
The extension of the national telecom infrastructure should in particular make it possible to fill the gaps in the current infrastructure and to improve the coverage of the Ugandan population with high-speed telecom services while reducing costs. This will accelerate the penetration of mobile services and the Internet in the country. According to the latest statistics from the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), the mobile and internet penetration rates are 69% and 53%, respectively.
Back