Prime
Dubai firm takes digital deal from Nita-U’s jaws
ICT minister, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, listens to a presentation at a previous conference in 2023. Uganda Telecommunications Corporation Limited will soon start managing operations of the National Backbone Infrastructure and e-Government Infrastructure. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
- Last week, government signed a support agreement with UTCL to take over all hardware, software, networks, facilities, and associated equipment used for processing, among others.
In a move that enfeebles the National Information Technology Authority-Uganda (Nita-U) and tactfully paves the way for its folding back into its parent ministry of ICT, the authority’s key operations have been handed over to the Uganda Telecommunications Corporation Limited (UTCL).
UTCL, is the successor company of the Uganda Telecom Ltd (UTL), with co-shareholding of the Ministries of Finance and ICT, and the Dubai-based ROWARD Capital Commercial Broker LLC.
On Friday last week, the government signed a support agreement with UTCL to takeover among others “all hardware, software, networks, facilities, and associated equipment used for processing, storing, and transmitting digital data, owned or controlled by” government, previously through Nita-U, “for purposes of direct income generation.”
The data infrastructure includes the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) and related infrastructure including the National Data Centre at Statistics House on Colville Street in Kampala, and any installed or dark fibre on optical fibre infrastructure under the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) as long as it’s for commercialisation.
The agreement was signed at State House, Entebbe, witnessed by President Museveni and the ROWARD Capital Commercial Broker LLC Chief Executive Officer, Mr Chaher Al Taki. The junior Finance Minister Henry Musasizi and ICT Minister Chris Baryomunsi signed on behalf of the government.
President Museveni was quoted in a statement by State House as saying: “Our main interest is to get investors to create wealth and jobs.”
Dr Baryomunsi commended efforts to “bring new life to UTCL” which has taken a year from last year in October when Roward executives paid a courtesy call to the President during which they expressed interest in investing in a wide range of sectors, including the telecoms sector.
During the President’s visit to Abu Dhabi later in November the company’s executives in one of the meetings lamented the absence of follow-up on their earlier discussions. It is on this basis, sources noted, that the President directed the Attorney General to fast-track the deal leading to the signing of a joint venture agreement in December 2022 to be operationalised within six months.
The transfer of the NBI to UTCL was among the key terms the government committed to in the December 22 agreement. Others included the issuance of a national telecommunications operator licence, negotiation of shareholders and support agreements, and timely modification of the company’s registration at the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB).
These were supposed to be completed within three months, ending March 22, 2024, to facilitate the ROWARD-UTCL marriage. In turn, ROWARD would invest $25m (about Shs95b) during the 90-day period, and stagger another $200m (Shs756b) over the next three years.
Inversely, Nita-U executives backed by top officials in the ICT ministry during the subsequent months frustrated the deal by, among others, refusing to hand over information related to the optical fibre cable linking all government offices and the supply of internet.
Nita-U is the statutory body mandated to coordinate government IT services.
Nita-U had in 2018 hired Kenyan company, Soliton Telmec Ltd to manage and commercialise the NBI. Under the support agreement signed on Friday, the government committed to cancel the deal with Soliton that was supposed to end in 2028.
Consequently, President Museveni on June 24 read a riot act for Nita-U and ICT ministry officials to immediately close the UTCL-ROWARD merger within 21 days by July 14. In a letter to Dr Baryomunsi, the President expressed shock that “investors who want to rescue UTL have not yet got an agreement from the government.”
On July 14, NIita-U acquiesced to handover all the NBI
In 2006 the government acquired $106m from China’s Export-Import (Exim) Bank to implement the optical fibre cable to link all government offices and the supply and installation of communication equipment to enable the transmission of voice, data, and conferencing services.
Phase one of the project was completed in June 2008 and involved the laying of optical fibre cable within Kampala and Entebbe to link 27 MDAs and the laying of 168km of fibre linking Kampala to Mukono, Bombo, and Jinja.
Phase two ran from 2009 to 2013 encompassed laying 1,400km fibre connecting Busia, Tororo, Mbale, Malaba, Kumi, Soroti, Lira, Gulu, Elegu, Masindi, Kyenjojo, Fort Portal, Kasese, Bushenyi, Mbarara. Nakasongola and Luweero, and construction of a data centre, at Statistics House in Kampala for managing all e-government services on the NBI/eGI.
GOVT PLAN
Last October, the government embarked on borrowing $144m from Exim Bank for phase five which includes, among others, laying 3,604km of fibre cable network and 51 backbone transmission points to increase coverage of the backbone network. The creaming off of key activities comes as a setback for NITA-U which is dealing with numerous crises internally including the shoddy and ineffective implementation of the Shs700b Uganda Digital Acceleration Project-Government Network (UDAP-GOVNET) project financed by the World Bank
