Uganda ICT sector performance review, 2009/2010

Because of advances in technology service provision, the regulator has adopted a technology neutral licensing regime. However, it is challenged with issues of interconnection and uncompetitive practices, largely driven by the incumbents. Increased competition resulting from the entry of service providers in a generally ‘small’ market has given users a stronger bargaining position. Various initiatives of government and the private sector in growing the optical-fiber backbone will go a long way in enhancing various services, particularly for regions remote from the capital. There is great need for public-private partnering to realise performance objectives

Mobile Payments: A Comparison between Philippine and Ugandan Contexts

This paper maintains that mobile phone payments present a significant opportunity to integrate more users within Uganda's financial system. Besides enabling services that can improve the performance of small businesses, mobile payments afford an opportunity to integrate more users within the traditional banking system at a reasonable cost. In order to evolve a successful model and realise these benefits, Uganda can learn from the Philippines, a developing country with arguably the most successful and widespread use of mobile payments in the world. Action areas include reviewing the national policy and legal environment, building capacity and collaboration amongst multiple regulatory agencies, and the need to be accommodative of as many stakeholders as possible. This will create a truly national system that can leverage the projected growth of the mobile phone market and bring benefits to the general population

Airtime to cash : unlocking the potential of Africa's mobile phones to bank the unbanked

The table of contents for this item can be shared with the requester. The requester may then choose one chapter, up to 10% of the item, as per the Fair Dealing provision of the Canadian Copyright ActThe paper explores how mobile phones may be used to extend banking services to the ‘unbanked.’ Few individuals in the informal sector have access to collateral and either have their own informal small businesses (such as street vendors) or work for small informal businesses on an ad hoc basis. Mobile banking could be transformational for informal businesses and the poor if they are able to access micro-loans and other formal financial services

ICT Usage and Its Impact on Profitability of SMEs in 13 African Countries

This article reports on a small and medium enterprise (SME) survey carried out by the ResearchICTAfrica (RIA) in 14 African countries. It argues that the negative return on investment reported in the literature can be attributed to the failure to distinguish between the formal and informal sectors. This article demonstrates that informal SMEs have a higher profitability than formal ones. It further shows that ICTs are productive input factors and that their use increases labor productivity for informal as well as formal SMEs. The article further argues that there is still demand for fixed-line phones among SMEs but that mobile phones have become the default communications tool because fixed lines are either too expensive or not available. The primary policy recommendation arising out of this is that applications for SMEs need to be developed using mobile phones. (c) 2007 by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

ICT usage and its impact on profitability of SMEs in 13 African countries : research article

This article reports on a small and medium enterprise (SME) survey carried out by the ResearchICTAfrica (RIA) in 14 African countries. It argues that the negative return on investment reported in the literature can be attributed to the failure to distinguish between the formal and informal sectors. This article demonstrates that informal SMEs have a higher profitability than formal ones. It further shows that ICTs are productive input factors and that their use increases labor productivity for informal as well as formal SMEs. The article further argues that there is still demand for fixed-line phones among SMEs but that mobile phones have become the default communications tool because fixed lines are either too expensive or not available. The primary policy recommendation arising out of this is that applications for SMEs need to be developed using mobile phones