Ugandan mobile network gets major upgrade

Kampala – Addressing reporters, CEO Noel Meier reiterated the company's commitment to providing quality and efficient services.

“Our customers have high expectations of us, and by undertaking this upgrade, we are responding to their need for quality and efficient services. Once completed, our customers will realize unprecedented network quality.”

He explained that there was an unprecedented increase in number of customers on the network last year. “We anticipated an increase on the subscriber base and planned for it based on growth trends from the previous years, however the capacity increase didn't match the 60% increase in the number of customers.”

Simultaneous upgrades

The company's chief technical officer, Francis Kazinduki, said the company is undertaking various upgrades simultaneously, all aimed at increasing capacity on the radio and core network.
Kazinduki added that the SMS platform has been upgraded and will now be able to accommodate much more traffic compared to the current capacity. “We're particularly excited by this upgrade as it will allow us to also introduce some new SMS services.”

The network systems are supplied by Ericsson, a leading supplier of network systems. Signing on behalf of the company, the acting country chief technical officer, Paul Reiner said the upgrade is one of the largest network upgrades Ericsson has undertaken on any network in the sub-Saharan region.

The upgrades which have already started are expected to be concluded by June 2007. In many instances, customers will have started realizing improved services as the upgrade progresses