Uganda is now saving 4 trillion shillings annually in costs because of National Backbone Infrastructure says NITA-U Executive Director Dr. Hatwib Mugasa. He made these remarks at the Huawei ICT Congress 2022 currently taking place at the Sheraton hotel Kampala up to the 24th of March 2022.
Mr Hatwib expressed that because of the National backbone infrastructure project, government services have managed to go online and more than 1,400 Ministries, Agencies and Local Government (MDA) offices can now utilize electronic services such as integrated management systems, e-tax, e-passports, hence saving a huge chunk of money and time that would have been spent on making services available to Ugandans.
“NITA-U has been working with Huawei for more than 10 years since the National Backbone Infrastructure/e-government project was started. We have rolled out over 4172km of backbone fibre cable in over 62 Districts of Uganda. We are also rolling out last mile fiber cable to extend connectivity to the grass root user all the way to the Parish. In a few weeks from now we shall have completed 764km under the Last Mile Phase and citizens shall be able to access e-government services at 1,400 administrative locations. By digitalizing government processes and hosting them at the National Data Centre, NITA-U has managed to saves the Government of Uganda more than 4 Trillion Shillings annually in direct public expenditure. This cost that would have be spent on paper, manual processes and Data Centres service fees for each MDA.” he said.
Ms Amy Xia, Huawei’s Vice President Enterprise Business group emphasized the need for digitalization because it is currently an industry consensus. She added that Huawei has heavily invested in research and development to benefit countries like Uganda and aid them in their digital process.
“As digital transformation has become an industry consensus, the focus has been shifted from “whether or not to go digital”, to “how to go digital!”. Huawei has invested heavily in research and development for Uganda so that we can achieve the creation of new value together. We have carefully considered today to exhibit the various technologies you see here so that we can together walk the digital journey of Uganda,” she said.
The Huawei ICT Congress 2022 is a mirror of the Mobile World Congress always held in Barcelona where Huawei has been a top exhibitor showcasing the latest technology. The Huawei ICT Congress 2022 with the theme “Lighting up the Future” organized by Huawei Uganda is aimed at helping businesses and ICT users such as governments, telecoms, regulators and enterprises innovate business models, improve quality and efficiency, enhance experience, and strengthen resilience in their digital work and productivity, and digital service processes. Huawei exhibited technology in smart homes, smart offices, cloud solutions, safe and smart cities and so much more. This is the first of its kind by Huawei in Africa and looks to do many more the coming years.
In attendance was Minister of ICT and National Guidance Hon Chris Baryomunsi, NITA-U’s Hatwib Mugasa, Huawei Vice president of Carrier Business Group Southern Africa Mad Chen, Huawei Vice President of Enterprise Business group Amy Xia and Huawei Uganda MD Gaofei.
