Only 30 percent of the 2.7 million new devices that were connected to the network in Uganda in the last year were smartphones, leaving a gap in internet connectivity.
The latest report by Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) states that active devices connected to the networks have grown to 32 million devices in June 2021.
This represents a 9% percentage growth. However, the Q2 report adds that 70% of the new terminals are basic and feature phones.
As such, the sum of smartphones/internet enabled gadgets in Uganda currently stands at 9.7 million gadgets. This compares with 22.4 million feature phones and basic phones.
Feature phones typically provide voice calling and text messaging functionality, as well as basic multimedia and internet capabilities, and other services offered by the user’s mobile network operator.
The communications regulator says this variance “presents a big gap in harnessing the true potential of mobile broadband connectivity”.
Relatedly, 3 million new broadband subscriptions were recorded, representing a 16% year-on-year growth. This brings the total broadband subscriptions to 21.9 million.
“This growth was largely fueled by Covid occasioned travel restrictions and work from home protocols,” UCC said in it’s report.
This translates into a broadband penetration of 1 internet connection for every 2 Ugandans.
Smartphone penetration
Smartphone adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa is rising but lags the global average (64% at the end of 2019) by a considerable margin.
Affordability, especially of 4G-enabled devices, remains a key barrier to smartphone adoption. The average selling price of smartphones has reduced significantly in recent years, with the influx of sub-$100 devices from Chinese brands such as Tecno and Infinix.
However, many consumers are still unable to afford the one-off upfront cost of purchasing a device. A 2020 report by the GSMA titled The Mobile Economy Sub-sahara Africa put the percentage of smartphones to total connections in the Sub-saharan African region at 44 percent.
The same report put SADC ahead of other regions in smartphone adoption at 47 percent, followed by ECOWAS (45 percent), ECCAS (43 percent) and EAC (36 percent).
GSMA, an industry organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide, projects that Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya will be the top markets in smartphone connections by 2025, with 154 million, 73 million and 47 million connections respectively.
