MTN Uganda has broken ground on a new Switching Centre in Kampala, bringing to six the number of Telecommunication Switches the firm is operating in Uganda.

Officiating at the ground-breaking ceremony, MTN Chief Executive Officer Themba M. Khumalo and Roko Chairman Rainer Kohler said the project would cost close to US$ 110million in civil works construction, and telecommunications equipment.

He said that the civil and switch fitting works alone on the new Switch will cost US$6million, to give o MTN  subscribers in Uganda the best quality telecommunications services possible.

Themba Khumalo, MTN Uganda CEO

He added that he actual equipment to be installed in the Switch Room and the entire complex shall be in excess of US$104million .

MTN Uganda currently operates five Switching centres, three of which are in Kampala at Mbuya and on Plot 44/45 Kampala road, and three Regional Switches in Mbarara, Masindi and Tororo.

He said that the Mutundwe Switch will serve for about three to five years before it is at full capacity – especially at our rate of growth.

He  said that  currently have 7 million subscribers on the MTN Network, 500,000 of whom have joined in the last three months. With our continued roll-out of highly innovative products and services, we expect subscriber numbers and usage to increase significantly, but the number and nature of any future switching centres shall be dictated by the needs of the business.

Khumalo said the new Switching Centre would allow for the network capacity to easily accommodate more than 10million active subscribers.

He said that this  Switch will be the largest Switching Centre in the MTN Uganda Network. Construction will take nine months and we trust that it will be of the highest quality – which is why we have contracted M/S Roko Construction.

Roko Chairman Rainer Kohler said his company would carry out the contracted works with the highest degree of professionalism and added that they will do a good job on this project, as usual .

Last week, MTN Uganda officially opened an ultra-modern Customer Service Centre at the Forest Mall, bringing its investments in Uganda closer to the US$1billion mark since the company launched operations in 1998.