Cabinet has agreed and approved the proposal by ministry of finance to get a competent investor to inject money into financially struggling Uganda Telecom Limited.
The development was revealed this morning by ICT minister Hon. Frank Tumwebaze, during the weekly presentation of cabinet decisions before the press at Uganda media centre in Kampala.
According to Hon. Tumwebaze, cabinet has also authorized the Minister of State for Investment, Evelyn Anite, to work with the financial intelligence authority to vet the capacities and record of the various prospective investors that had submitted in their expression of interest.
For years now, government has been struggling to restore the glory of UTL which saw its downfall after a Shs366 billion liability outstripped its total asset base of Shs220 billion, according to an audit report in 2015.
Recently, the president welcomed a partnership with a Chinese company, Xinlan to start manufacturing phones in Uganda. No, cabinet has also gifted the National telecom company with an extension of its license by 20 years, especially when it gets a competent investor to upgrade its network.
It was also agreed during the cabinet meeting, that UCC allows UTL to expand its frequency bandwidth so long as it can prove that it will use it efficiently to cover the whole country and provide better quality service.
UTL, shall now become the preferred internet provider to all ministries departments and agencies of government by guaranteeing it unlimited access and use of the National backbone infrastructure (NBI) to enhance Government shareholding to a range of between 32% to 45%.
Currently, a few Ugandans, save for police and UPDF officers who are forced to, have UTL simcards. But with such a move, a proposal by minister Anite to force every Ugandan to own a UTL line could be accepted by cabinet soon.
