The Government of Uganda will save an additional US$3.5 million (UGX 115.5 billion) from bulk internet purchase if the national IT Authority (NITA-U) connects another 60 government ministries, departments and agencies into the national internet backbone. Already through improved purchase discounts NITA-U has brought down the cost of bulk internet down from US$600 (UGX1.9 million) to US$300 (UGX 990,000) per MBps, saving the government US$ 1.9 million (UGX 6.2 billion).
But that will only be possible, if the National Internet Infrastructure backbone is expanded. To date Uganda has only 1,645 kilometres of optic fibre cable, covering only 22 towns.
The Government of Uganda in April signed another agreement with the Government of China to roll out the third phase of the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure (NBI). This third phase will add another 765 kilometres of the fibre optic cable covering the areas of Masaka, Mutukula, Mbarara, Kabale and Katuna. The plan is to connect Kampala to Rwanda via optic fibre cable through Masaka-Mbarara-Katuna; and Kampala to Kenya-via Busia-Jinja and and to South Sudan via Nimule.
NITA-U) is currently executing twin projects dubbed the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure and e-Government Infrastructure Project (NBI/EGI). The NBI aims at connecting all major towns in Uganda to an Optical Fibre Cable based Network, while the E-government Initiative seeks to connect government ministries, departments and agencies onto the e-Government Network.
