President Yoweri Museveni will this coming Saturday grace the roll-out of phase four of the National Backbone infrastructure project (NBI). According to a Thursday statement released by the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U), the event will be held at St. Charles Secondary School in Koboko District.
Top Government policy makers from key Ministries, Departments & Agencies (MDAs) and leaders and decision-makers in the West Nile region will also attend the event.
Under phase four, the NBI will extend to the districts of Pakwach, Nebbi, Arua, Yumbe, Koboko, Adjumani, Katakwi and the border points of Oraba, Vurra, and Mpondwe.
Speaking on the development, James Saaka, NITA-U executive director said by boosting internet connectivity in the West Nile Region with the NBI, it will lead to the increased access of digital services due to reduced Internet costs.
“Phase four will bring public services closer to the Citizens in those areas with 100 Government offices in the areas of West Nile & Karamoja are to be connected. These include but not limited to Local Governments, hospitals, schools, universities, among others that are within a 1km radius from the Missing Links cable route or Point of Presence. These are additional connections will lower internet costs from 70 USD to 50 USD per Mbps per month,” Saaka said, according to the statement.
The Government of Uganda, through NITA–U has implemented the National Data Transmission Backbone Infrastructure and e-Government Infrastructure (NBI/EGI) project.
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The overall objective of this project is to; create a secure high-speed network that connects all Government MDAs, District Local Governments (DLGs), municipal councils, hospital, and schools; lower the cost of communication across Government and spur the development of online Government services.
To date, NITA-U has extended connectivity to 414 Government MDA sites which include hospitals, public universities among others.
The cost of internet Bandwidth for Government has reduced from 300USD per Mbps per month in 2016 to 70USD per Mbps per month which has translated into a competitive advantage, with internet pricing being 56% cheaper when benchmarked against the regional pricing and therefore more affordable for Ugandans, ends the statement.
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