Uganda’s telephone subscribers up by 1.8 Million

Kampala,, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT  The number of telephone subscribers in Uganda has grown by 1.8 million in the third quarter of 2019/2020 bringing the total number to 28.5 million people. 

According to the January to March 2020 quarterly report by the Uganda Communication Commission, the number of subscribers increased from 26.7 million in December 2019 to 28.5 million by the end of March 2020. The strongest growth was realized in the Mobile segment with 1.8 million new mobile subscribers, while growth in fixed-line subscriptions was minimal with less than 1,000 new connections.

The growth in subscribers in the quarter Jan – to March 2020 reflects the highest three-month growth rate in the financial year 2019/20. This is despite the traditional subscriber peaks associated with the December festivities. The first quarter from July 2019 to September had 24.8 million subscribers, the second quarter had 25.5 million, third-quarter had 25.7 million, while the fourth quarter 28.5 million.

In the broadband segment, fixed Internet subscribers were 30,440 during the January to March 2020 quarter down from 32,370 registered in the October to December 2019 quarter. The decline in subscribers is connected to the March Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown that saw a number of subscribers transact from home on mobile phones rather than fixed internet common in office environments.

Mobile Internet Subscribers grew to about 18.8 million between January and March reflecting a raise by from the 16.9 million registered in the preceding quarter. This indicates an increase of 1.9 million subscribers.

According to the report, in the quarter Jan-March, 1.2 million new broadband connections were posted. Although, this is a reduction from the 1.4 million new subscribers posted in the October to December 2019 quarter.

Nevertheless, this is the first time internet connection posted more than 1 million new connections in two consecutive quarters.  Total internet subscriptions have grown by 31 per cent over the last 12 months. Just like in telephone connections mobile phone or sim enabled devices stands out as the most popular internet access medium accounting for more than 95 per cent of new growth in the quarter.

“At the end of the review period, mobile internet subscriptions accounted for 99.6 per cent of all internet subscriptions in Uganda,” reads part of the report.

In the Mobile Money segment, registered accounts have grown by almost 700,000 new registrations from 24.7 million registered accounts in December 2019 to 25.4 million accounts by March 2020. Of these, 21 million accounts had engaged in at least one billable mobile money transaction during the January to March 2020 quarter.

From the above, it is evident that growth was posted in terms of both subscriptions and Mobile Wallet activity during the review period.  While registered accounts grew at only 0.9 per cent during the January to March quarter, the growth in active mobile money accounts averaged 4 per cent during the period. Also, 75 per cent of the new wallet activity is drawn from accounts that were previously dormant.

The report indicates that resurgence in wallet activity could be linked to an increase in e-commerce due to limited mobility at the onset of the lockdown in March. For the first time, according to the report, the number of active mobile money wallets has crossed the 20 million mark.

Agent access points have also grown from 204,141 nationwide at the end of December 2019 to 213,295 at the end of March 2020. From October to December last year, 24.6 million mobile money subscribers were registered and 25.4 million from January to March 2020.

The number of active mobile money subscribers raised from 18.7 million in the October to December 2019 quarter to 20.97 million in the quarter ending March 2020.

The report partly associates the unusual performance in January to March 2020 to the adoption of digital work methods like ‘Work-From-Home’ offers, as well as international returning residents in the wake of COVID-19, a global pandemic that has ravaged the world this year. It followed numbers drawn from registered mobile subscriptions that have undertaken at least one billable service in the 90-day period ending March 31st, 2020.

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URN