Uganda Needs Tough Broadband Price Regulations

Kato Mivule | July 20, 2009

Ugandan Press has been reporting of ‘The Broadband Company’ that claims that they will offer faster affordable internet services to Ugandans. The British company headed by Arvind Knutsen has not invested in any infrastructure but rather is a ‘middle man’ type of company looking to make ‘fraud’ profits in Uganda.

Arvin Knutsen claims that his company will charge Ugandans about 70 US Dollars to 140 US Dollars per month for a 64k to 512k Internet Connection. One wonders what the goal and purpose of the Ministry of ICT is.

If the Ugandan Government has heavily invested in the Fiber Optic Broadband Infrastructure, then why allow unknown “investors” to set outrageous prices for internet access and deny Ugandans a chance to access information on the net?

On the other hand in the USA the new Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission – FCC, Julius Genachowski is seeking to make Broadband accessible and available to all Americans and that means lower prices. Americans have seen economic development with High Speed Internet.

“WASHINGTON — Julius Genachowski has laid out a major mission for the Federal Communications Commission: making affordable high-speed Internet available to all Americans. But how the agency’s new chairman goes about achieving that goal has Internet providers watching nervously. Mr. Genachowski, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, confirmed his commitment to widespread Internet access, saying the Web has been perhaps “the most successful driver of economic growth” in the country…”
The Wall Street Journal |JULY 20, 2009
| New FCC Chairman’s Agenda Includes Broader Internet Access, More Transparency

On the other side of the Atlantic in Uganda, Broadband is being hijack by avid middlemen who have invested nothing in the nations fiber optic infrastructure but fly from Europe to come and set exploitative prices.

The Ugandan ICT Ministry has done nothing to challenge such companies as the British ‘The Broadband Company’. What will result is that development will be impended and Ugandans will never benefit from High Speed Internet.

Uganda’s government ought to take tougher regulations to protect its Internet Infrastructure from insatiable businessmen. Uganda’s High Speed internet should cater for schools, hospitals, and farmers in villages. Tougher Prices regulations should be a welcome so as to speed up economic development that comes with Broadband Internet Connection.

Notes

The Independent | July 20, 2009 | The benefits of fast Internet in Uganda

The Observer | July 8, 2009 | INTERVIEW: Broadband company to offer faster internet