Uganda gets Broadband

Uganda gets cheaper Internet

FARIDAH KULABAKO

Kampala

Ugandans’ thirst to get connected to the world through faster data transfer  and website updates without leaving the comfort zone has been quenched by the launch of broadband Internet service in the country.  

Seacom’s fibre optic cable that links East and Southern Africa to Asia and Europe through the Middle East, was intended at providing the East and South Africans access to the whole world through fast, affordable and reliable Internet services. 

Speaking at the Seacom launch in Kampala on Thursday, the company representative in Uganda, Mr Fred Moturi, said the undersea cable has a bandwidith which encourages volume discounts and large bandwidth growth unlike the satellite connections that have been dominating the country for the past years.

It is expected that broadband will reduce the cost of Internet connection by more than 80 per cent lower than satellite connection with a capacity of 1.28TB per second, to provide the much needed Internet connection capacity. 

Seacom broadband Internet which will be sold to the Internet service providers (ISPs) at $400 (Shs800, 000) is $6, 100 (Shs12.2m) cheaper than the satellite technology which costs $6,500 (Shs13m). “Since we will sell ISPs at a cheaper price, we expect them to provide it to the end users at least 75 per cent less,” said Mr Moturi.

The Minister for Information and communication Technology, Mr Aggrey Awori, said the cable will stimulate education growth, health, media and talent while spurring innovation and creativity. “We are going to use the facility as a platform to boost e-medicine, e-education and e-commerce,” said Mr Awori. 
Kenya Data Network constructed a 15,000km fibre optic cable linking Mombasa, Nairobi and Kampala and connects to the undersea cable of Seacom.

The project which cost $600 million (Shs120 billion) had 76.25 per cent of finances coming from African funders and the rest from Herakles Capital, a United States agency.

During the launch, Seacaom with Cisco jointly built a voice, data and video platform where the launch of Seacom was broadcast live via Internet protocol to five launch locations including; Uganda, South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania.

The State Minister for ICT, Mr Alintuma Nsambu, said the government opted for this Internet to provide alternative cheaper Internet solutions to citizens.

To make sure that customers get full value for their money, broadband companies will be regulated by the Uganda Communications Communication for security reasons.

The Monitor Newspaper 25 July 2009

The Monitor’s Systems Connectivity

By Ali Balunywa in Kampala, Uganda

Gladys Buteraba works at the Monitor as the Helpdesk Administrator. The Monitor is Uganda’s other second daily newspaper (www.monitor.co.ug). It is an independent daily founded by a group of journalists. Currently, it is owned by East Africa’s biggest media house, The Nation Group of Companies that publishes the biggest circulating newspaper in East Africa. It also owns radios and televisions in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.

Gladys is a computer nerd who studied Business computing and also holds a Cisco Certificate of Network Association (CCNA). Her job is to look out for internal clients with computing problems. She understands the sections of every department, which enables her to provide tailor made solutions.

In the course of her work, she logs on and makes personal checks to find out if the systems are running properly. The systems include; the intranet, email, accounts and editorial. She also handles the day-to-day user codes sections composed of networks, systems and helpdesk.

The networks include the Local Area Networks (LAN) and the Wide Area Networks (WAN) in other words Internet connectivity. The Systems administrator manages all the systems in the organization. These include; the editorial, digital and finance systems. Lastly, the Helpdesk is first line trouble shooting area. It also coordinates all the sections and redistributes work. It further does the check on the physical structures like the satellite Vsats that provide the wireless link to the head office in Nairobi, Kenya and also downloads foreign news from Reuters and other News organizations.

The Helpdesk department receives calls from people in trouble with their systems and someone is assigned to go and look at the problem and solve it where possible on site. Sometimes the system might need reformatting or re installation, which can only be done in the IT room.

Gladys explained with pride how the Monitor is leading in digital innovations. She mentioned the mobile alerts service, which the Monitor outsourced from service providers called: True African. They teamed up with all mobile telephone providers to provide alerts on clients’ mobile phones. The clients pay some money on subscribing to the service. 

The Monitor mobile alerts offer breaking news and news headlines to subscribers. A new client just types in “monitor alert”, enters a number and sends to a specific number provided and he will be subscribed to the service.

Gladys was also happy to note that the Internet through Outlook organized the journalists. It provided an internal email address, keeps contacts and appointments.