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Download UCC Quality of Service(QOS) Report
The independent Quality of Service(QOS) assessment that was carried out by the Uganda Communications Commissionand published in the leading daily newspapers indicated MTN Uganda as the leading network operator for the period February 2014 to June 2014.
The report covered a number of parameters which include among others Successful Call rate, Blocked call rate and Dropped call rate.
MTN Uganda’s focus over the last year was on Network Quality, the rollout of innovative Products and Services, improvement of Customer Experience and wide distribution network which have consolidated our leadership in quality service and delivery.
“This is a fantastic achievement and reflects the results of our investment program and network optimization focus over the last few months. What is particularly pleasing is that we are the clear leader in important cities like Mbale, Jinja, Kasese, Kabale, Masaka and Mbarara. This is a clear indication that MTN has not only limited our investment to Kampala but has focused on the whole of Uganda,” said Chief Executive Officer, Brian Gouldie.
In 2013 MTN investments in Uganda exceeded Ushs 137 billion and in 2014 UGX 150 billion. This is part of a cumulative investment exceeding Ushs 1.7 Trillion in Uganda since 1998. This has gone towards network rollout and upgrades as well as a number of other infrastructure developments to support our subscriber growth and the rollout of new innovative products and services.
In terms of infrastructure, for the six months ended 30 June 2014, MTN Uganda added 133 new 2G sites and 138 new 3G sites. There were also 243 existent 2G sites upgraded in various locations across the country.
MTN officially commissioned its Fibre network at Katuna Border in Kabale district last year. The commissioning of the fibre at Katuna was a major development which has had a positive impact on Uganda’s ICT Roadmap. This landmark development was the first terrestrial link to Rwanda that was earmarked to greatly lower cost and significantly improve quality of communications services in the region. It has since substantially improved the connectivity with neighboring countries and the world by connecting Uganda to an additional submarine cable SAT-3 to Rwanda via the Tanzania route from Dar es Salaam.
This is in addition to the other two cables already connected through the Kenya route from Mombasa which provide Uganda with unique redundancy and a backup structure for secured and reliable connectivity while providing quality voice and data services. This important development is in line with MTN Uganda’s commitment of leading innovation in the market and in the region as a whole.
By December 2013, MTN Uganda’s total Fibre infrastructure exceeded 3,200km. An additional 350 km of fibre will be rolled out by the end of 2014 and 150 km in the first quarter of 2015.
Today there is an increased demand for internet access in Uganda and MTN Uganda has managed to stay on the top of its roadmap. MTN was the first to introduce the latest technologies providing World Class Internet using 3G, 4G LTE and Wi-Fi Hotspots. Furthermore through its regional Internet Expos, MTN continues to take basic data and computer literacy to the different part of the country. Currently more than 3 million subscribers are accessing the Internet thought MTN Network per month and this number is steadily growing.
“It is important to highlight the fact that network downtime usually results in significant revenue losses. We have however invested heavily in network infrastructure to minimize this down time so as to ensure that customers and their Businesses are never offline. Unfortunately, these efforts are being affected by persistent network damages along our routes”, he said.
The continuous improvement in network quality and services is being affected by different challenges including the increase in the number of vandalism cases on MTN’s network infrastructure. For instance during the last 12 months, MTN Uganda recorded more than 200 incidents of infrastructure vandalism largely attributed to the theft of fiber cables by individuals and activities of road construction.
Gouldie said, “Our investment into Uganda shows MTN’s commitment to continue providing services relevant to our customer’s current and future needs and this firmly positions MTN as a leader with a clear vision for the future”.
