Uganda’s oldest telecom company, Uganda Telecom Limited has been continuously linked to collapsing in the past few years. There have been reports that UTL was to be sold to a foreign company. The telecom plans to stay in business with the recent announcement of slashed calling rates to MTN Uganda numbers.
The ailing telecom has suffocated with debts and was previously tasked to pay 500 billion shillings in debt. The government of Uganda promised that it won’t dissolve the telecom even with all the trouble it faced. President Museveni later directed revamping of Uganda Telecom and consequently government laid out a new strategy to revamp UTL.
Uganda Telecom has previously had interconnection woes with Airtel Uganda but the two finally resolved the matter.
The new calling rate from UTL to MTN
With the new calling rates, you will be able to call MTN numbers at UGX 2/= per second. The new charges are effective now and UTL is hoping the move will increase calls made on its network. MTN is currently the market leader in Uganda’s telecommunications sector. Therefore, UTL believes there is a higher probability of someone making a call to an MTN number. UTL wants the tempting 2/= per second charge to bring in more customers and revenue to revamp the telecom company.
Wrap Up
The cut in the charge comes earlier than the reduced tariffs for SMS and voice that Uganda Communications Commission set to be effective on July 1st. The charge is lower than the cost per second by established operators, including Airtel and Africell.
The telecom industry continues to see heated action with price wars in data and calling rates realms. Players are up in arms over who has the most affordable voice, sms and data bundles. While UTL maybe one for the history books in the internet business, its new voice tariff is worth a try.
Why should you care?
Competition drives the telecoms sector in Uganda. Data prices have hit unprecedented lows because of the stiff competition among telecom companies. While UTL may not seem like a threat to the existing big boys in the telecom business, the reduction in the tariff per second may bring some level of competition. Competition is a welcome feature in the sector especially at the customers end. We may soon see a reduction in the calling costs across all networks, and hopefully call for free some day!
