Mobile and fixed telephone subscriptions have continued to be the engine for growth in the communications sector with the market hitting 29 million in the third quarter of 2021 according to the latest telecom market report.
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However, in terms of net quarterly additions, only 200,000 new subscriptions were posted in the three months July-September 2021, according to the latest market performance report released by Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).
This figure is only a third of the net quarterly subscriber additions witnessed in the preceding two quarters, an indication that the new COVID-19 related demand associated with the last four quarters might be easing off.
The quarterly report indicates that despite the slowdown in quarter-on-quarter additions, the 12-month period ending September 2021 recorded a decent 10% year-on-year growth, with 2.6 million new customers added to the network.
The 29.1 million subscriptions translate into a telephone penetration of 69%, which can be interpreted as a national penetration of 7 lines out of every 10 Ugandans (regardless of age).
It is also noteworthy, the report points out, that 85% of the 200,000 new mobile connections during the third quarter, were data-enabled connections.
This high broadband connectivity conversion is reportedly driven by the continued shift to data-enabled low-cost entry terminals pushed by both Mobile Network Operators and independent handset importers.
22 million internet subscriptions
It is, therefore, not surprising that at the end of September 2021, total internet subscriptions had for the first time crossed the 22 million mark – a broadband penetration rate of 52%. That means every 1 in 2 Ugandans has an active internet connection.
On a year-on-year comparison, the upward trend in broadband connections matches the fixed and mobile subscriptions, with the broadband subscriptions base growing by 1.9 million (10%) between September 2020 and September 2021.
Mobile Money growth
Growth in mobile subscriptions also had a multiplier effect on mobile money accounts, with the total number increasing by 900,000 accounts during the quarter. At the end of September 2021, the total number of registered mobile money accounts stood at 32.3 million.
Indicative of a sustained increase in business activity that is gradually positioning the mobile as a financial tool, the number of active mobile money agents grew by 11%, from 285,371 in June 2021 to 315,895 by the end of September 2021.
Going by a year-on-year analysis, the agent footprint across the country grew by 39%, with over 88,000 mobile money agents joining the Digital Financial Services (DFS) ecosystem over the last 12 months.
As for domestic voice traffic, the number of minutes grew to 16.8 billion in the period July-September 2021 – almost 1 billion minutes more than domestic traffic volumes recorded in April – June 2021.
“This 6% domestic traffic growth represents the highest quarter-on-quarter domestic traffic growth in the last 12 months (four quarters),” the report stated.
International Traffic Vs COVID-19
Regarding international voice traffic, there was a reduction of 10 million minutes in total calls to and from Uganda during the three months ending September 2021. This drop from 127 million minutes in 2Q21 to 117 million minutes in 3Q21 is consistent with the international traffic contraction realized over the last 12 months.
The contraction in international traffic has been attributed to traffic migration to Over-The-Top (OTT) calling platforms, as well as restrictions in international travel that translated into a slow-down in global business and related communication during the period under review.
Acknowledging that this period coincided with the second COVID-19 lockdown, the report notes a spike in broadband traffic, which it attributes to learners and employees adopting online working methods.
The total broadband traffic grew to 100 billion MBs, up from the 69 billion MBs recorded in the second quarter (April-June). This is the first time more than 100 billion MBs have been downloaded in a single quarter, the report observed.
New social media king
On the global scene, the report highlights TikTok’s sensational rise to prominence, pointing out that the video-sharing application has now crossed the 1 billion monthly active user mark for the first time. This apparently makes TikTok only the second social media platform with more than a billion monthly active users, the other being Facebook and its associated sub-platforms (WhatsApp and Instagram).
However, TikTok has had to contend with criticism for the addictive nature of the profiling algorithms used by the app, and legal challenges for non-compliance with data protection rules in the European Union.
