Africa-Press – Uganda. The new regional communication infrastructure project (RCIP) has reduced the costs of Internet service provision by the government from $70 (about Shs260,000) in megabits per second to $35 (about Shs130,000) in megabits per second, the Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, has said.
Speaking at the sidelines of the International Youth Day celebrations in Gulu City on Friday during which the project was launched, Dr Baryomunsi said the new rates take immediate effect.
“One of the issues the public has had is the cost of the Internet and the government has been handling it. The project in partnership with World Bank has reduced the cost of Internet to $35 megabits per second,” he said.
The RCIP is an initiative undertaken by National Information and Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U) .
Dr Baryomunsi added that the ministry intends to prioritise affordability of Internet services, especially among youth to enable jobs and wealth creation. The minister said the adoption of ICT in service delivery is part of transforming the country into a knowledge-based economy through establishment of conducive policies, legal, and institutional reforms.
While launching the RCIP, President Museveni advised the youth to engage in commercial farming, industrialisation, service sector and ICT to create jobs and wealth.
“Everybody with a piece of land, engage in commercial agriculture, and stop wasting our time,” the President said.
Dr Hatwib Mugasa, the NITA-U executive director, said they have been able to integrate government systems, banks and the private sector through RCIP.
“It is a success because there were 600 government offices that were connected in 2020. Through RCIP, we were able to connect additional 1,200 government offices in a span of two years,” Dr Mugasa said.
He added that the intervention has reduced the costs of operating government data systems in the past five years.
According to NITA-U, an average government data system would cost government $500,000 (Shs1.9b) every year in recurring costs such as electricity, licensing, cooling, and maintenance.
“But through RCIP, we were able to consolidate those systems into one location, the National Data Centre. Now, each system costs $10,000 (Shs38m) annually and we have been able to save $93m (Shs355b) in one year for 190 systems that we hosted at the National Data Centre last year,” Dr Mugasa said.
Since 2013, the costs of Internet provision has fallen from $1,200 (about Shs4.5m)per megabits per second to $300 (about Shs1.1m) in 2014. In 2017, the cost dropped to $190 and subsequently $70 megabits per second in 2020.
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