Questions swirl around the operability of Uganda’s proposed alternative fibre optic infrastructure through Tanzania that was pitched to the government by a company called Samanga Utilities.
In a June 23 letter, President Museveni indicated that he had received proposals from Samanga Utilities regarding ‘an alternative internet route through Tanzania’-tapping on the latter’s high-capacity fibre-optic network at the Mutukula border point, and automation of toll collections of the Kampala-Entebbe Expressway (KEE), which was the subject of a recent parliamentary inquiry.
However, months down the road, documents seen by this publication indicate that the discussions now centre on management of the Dense Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (DWDM) fibre optic line previously operated by the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (UETCL).
Accordingly, UETCL’s contracts committee is in the process of reviewing the evaluation report of the joint venture of Samanga Utilities and Liquid Telecommunications for ‘a commercial partner’ to oversee DWDM fibre optic covering over 1,775.2km. After evaluation, the contract worth $4.6m (Shs19.3b), will be forwarded to the Solicitor General for guidance.
This raises questions whether Samanga Utilities is introducing new internet connectivity infrastructure connecting from Tanzania or is merely going to run the UETCL fibre.
In the June 23, President Museveni suggested the options of using ‘the electricity transmission line for creating capacity for digital connection’ and ‘the petroleum corridor to lay fibres for digital connection.’
The latter refers to the buried fibre-optic cable running contiguous with the 1,443m km East African Crude Oil Pipeline (Eacop) that will transport Uganda’s waxy crude oil from the oil fields in mid-western Uganda to Tanga Port in Tanzania.
‘Study this with the relevant ministers and recommend courses of action for each of their efforts,’ Mr Museveni guided.
In August, the Parliamentary Committee on Physical Infrastructure started inquiring into the KEE toll management operations that were initially contracted to Egis Road Operations SA, and its sub-contractor Pinnacle Security Ltd.
Egis Road Operations SA divorced from the toll management operations, leaving behind Pinnacle Security Ltd. The committee probe discovered gaps in the latter’s contracting. Rather than recommending the Ministry of Works and Attorney General to plug the gaps, the committee broached terminating Pinnacle Security Ltd.
However, on the fibre optic network side, neither the National Information Technology Authority-Uganda (NITA-U), the statutory body mandated to coordinate government IT-services, nor its supervising Ministry of Information and National Guidance are involved in the ongoing discussions.
Samanga Utilities’ chief executive officer, Mr George Nkya said that ‘internet between Uganda and Tanzania is already flowing and people are enjoying high speed connectivity.’
‘You check with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They facilitated discussions between the two governments,’ he said.
There is, however, little record on the same, except an article titled ‘Tanzania adds Uganda to its ongoing regional fibre loop’ published on October 2, 2023, following signing of a memorandum of understanding between NITA-U and Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation (TTCL) earlier on September 29. The article suggests that Tanzania ‘will’ connect Uganda’s national fibre infrastructure called National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB).
Dr Hatwib Mugasa, the NITA-U executive director, said Uganda’s fibre optic cable – National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) – already runs to Mutukula at the border in Kyotera District, and to Busia and Malaba border points with Kenya.
‘NITA-U is in charge of the NBI and its operations. For the other fibres you are asking about, you have to speak to the responsible agencies,’ Dr Mugasa said.
In 2006 the government acquired a $106m (Shs444.5b) loan from China’s Export-Import (EXIM) Bank for 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 laying of optical fibre cable within Kampala and Entebbe to link 27 ministries, departments, and agencies and laying of 168km of fibre linking Kampala to Mukono, Bombo and Jinja.
Phase Two ran from 2009 to 2013 encompassing laying 1,400km and construction of a data centre, at Statistics House in Kampala.
Phase Three ran from 2016 to 2017 covering 756km of high-speed optical fibre cable from Kampala to Western Uganda and the borders with Tanzania and Rwanda.
Phase Four was funded by the World Bank to a tune of $75m (Shs314.5b) from 2016 to 2022 to extend ICT backbone to the West Nile districts and border points with DRC and South Sudan.
The former Energy minister, Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, left behind the deal in the in-tray of her successor, Dr Monica Musenero, who assumed office on June 10. She wrote of the deal ‘The use of Tanzania as a primary internet route’ in her handover report.
Consequently, in a letter dated July 27 under the reference ‘Implementation of the presidential directive on the Uganda-Tanzania fibre optic connection’, Dr Musenero directed the UETCL chief executive officer, Mr Richard Matsiko, to ‘terminate’ procurement of a commercial partner to manage the DWDM fibre optic, and directly engage Samanga Utilities Ltd, in joint venture with Liquid Telecommunications.
Dr Musenero, further, directed UETCL to ‘progress implementation of the Masaka-Kyaka optical fibre project in accordance with the approved work programme.’
This fibre is proposed to run on the planned Wobulenzi-Masaka-Mutukula to Mwanza 400 kilovolt transmission line, part of the regional interconnection lines under the Eastern African Power Pool.
UETCL, subsequently, terminated the procurement of a commercial partner to manage the DWDM fibre optic that runs alongside the high voltage power line.
Previously, the company leased the infrastructure to four telecommunication companies, Uganda Telecom Ltd/Uganda Telecommunications Corporation Ltd (UTL/UTCL), Sky Dot Com Ltd, Telkom-Kenya Ltd and Hamilton Telecom Ltd, with payments made three months in advance for fibre cores and 12 months in advance for co-location spaces.
However, the recent Auditor General’s report detailed that receivables from management of the fibre ‘have been outstanding for extended periods starting from as far back as 2016 to 2025.’ UTL/UTCL owed Shs10b, Sky Dot Com Ltd Shs8b, Hamilton Telecom Ltd–Shs7b, and Sky Dot Com Ltd Shs127m.
Insiders told this publication that owing to spiralling debt they had moved to procure one commercial partner to manage the infrastructure on a revenue sharing basis, when the orders to cancel the procurement were issued.