The Information and Communication Technology sector is tremendously growing as several players continue to flock the market.
The last three years alone have seen the establishment of Microsoft, Google, and Hewlett Packard in Uganda, companies that have very strong linkage strategies in their home countries.
The effective dual use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become a factor for rapid economic growth and wealth creation, and for improving the livelihoods of the people.
In addition to ICT being taken as an enabler in the service sector and executing government programmes and projects, it has also been recognized as an industry that has significantly contributed to socio-economic growth.
The liberalization of the telecommunications sector and formation of the ministry of ICT has greatly guided the sector into the leading contributor to the country’s GDP. The ICT sector has grown overwhelmingly, reporting an 18 per cent annual growth in 2014 and 2015.
The coming of the mobile phone handset was, perhaps, the most thrilling novelty of the time. This innovation has significantly eased communication among people in addition to creating employment to more than one million persons.
The advent of Online Media and its consequential efficiency in communication is a clear indicator that Government is in full support of these tremendous communication engines.
Its correlation with the fast rising communication trends in Uganda is because of NRM’ s masterpiece sectoral priorities in which the ICT falls.
Today, more than 40 per cent of the population has access to telephones while the geographic coverage is 86 per cent.
The invention of mobile money where all transactions are done electronically is another ICT success story the Government has ably created a condusive atmosphere for it to flourish. Businesses are growing at a terriffic speed and the young population is embracing the job opportunties this has brought.
Use of internet and other phone/computer-based applications, information processing, storage dissemination, social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Youtube, Twitter and other social media handles have all experienced phenomenal growth. Broadcast media has experienced significant growth. All this steady growth is Kudos to the NRM Government.
Following the ICT sector’s liberalisation, telephone subscription in Uganda now stands at 20.63 million people.
Today, we also have about 8.5 million internet users in the country and the ICT sector accounts for two per cent of Uganda’s GDP.
With technology advancement in almost every field of life, different organizations, both government and non-governmental departments are investing heavily in ICT for efficacy and safety.
Government systems in these departments have all gone digital, thanks to the ICT growth we have all witnessed.
Successful cases in point are National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) where all its databases are digital which has tremendously improved service delivery that evidently, every Ugandan has appreciated.
The Electoral Commission (EC) used a number of ICT tools to effectively manage previous elections.
With such fast foward development approaches, Uganda is undoubtedly headed for higher high-tech horizons that will accelerate the steady progress all Ugandans yearn for, as championed by the NRM.
