The research tracked newspaper and online media coverage of telecoms including MTN Uganda, Airtel, Africell and Uganda Telecom from January to June 2018.

In a report done by researchers from Ultimate Multimedia Consult (UMC) said most of what Ugandans know about telecom companies is from advertising and promotions, with few if any news stories or investigations into the work and promotional offers of telecommunication companies.

“Telecom companies impact the lives of almost every Ugandan today, through their internet, calling, sms and mobile money services. You would expect that journalists and commenters would be producing news and analysis on the work of telecoms to help Ugandans make informed choices on what product, service or offer is most beneficial or valid. But this is not the case,” said Gerald Businge, the Team Leader at Ultimate Multimedia Consult.

Businge said in the six months, there were only 82 news stories and 13 analysis articles of the 898 stories published about telecoms by newspapers and online publications. He says the majority of the stories published were advertorials. “Even most news stories resulted from press releases,” he said.

The research warns that such Telecom advertising burnout of news and editorial coverage will continue to hamper better service delivery by telecom companies. “There are many concerns from the public about telecom services. From dropped calls, slow internet, undelivered sms, internet bundle charges to service offer prices. It would be good if journalists did more scrutiny and investigations into these issues. But the research has shown most of the coverage in newspapers is advertised messages and whatever the telecom company say is right,” says Derrick Senyonga who heads Research and Training at UMC.

This adds to widely held concerns that due to their huge advertising muscle, telecom companies have “bought off” any possible scrutiny of their services from any media house.

The research report also expressed concern that telecom companies were not doing enough to communicate to their service users using the traditional media, online publishers or even their own websites. “There are limited explanations or updates on their respective websites or social media pages about current services or the how of things,” Senyonga says, adding that members of the public need more than adverts to make informed choices on telecom services.

The report commended MTN Uganda for leading in communicating about its services and offers, both in newspapers, online publications and on their website. “Even in facebook and twitter, MTN has registered more routine posting and engagement. MTN was followed by Airtel, Africell and Uganda Telecom respectively in media coverage, posting and engagement.

You can download the full report Media coverage and communication of telecoms in Uganda.

The post NEWS RELEASE: Communication Of Telecoms In Uganda first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

After several days of rumours that Warid Telecom Uganda was in some sort of crisis, it has now been confirmed that telecom firm has been sold to the Bharti Airtel Group that owns Airtel Uganda, and Airtel firms in 16 other African countries.

Warid no more in Uganda

The India based Bharti Airtel announced in a statement today that they had entered into a definitive agreement with the Warid Group to fully acquire Warid Telecom Uganda.

“The agreement aims to bring together the strengths of Airtel and Warid in Uganda and offer benefits to customers in the form of a superior and wider network, affordable voice and data services, and superior customer care,” said a press release.

Airtel hopes the acquisition of Warid the 3^rd largest mobile telecom provider in Uganda with 2.8 million subscribers will add to their current 4.6 million customers in Uganda and make them a strong force to reckon with. With a customer base of 7.4 million subscribers, Airtel will have a market share of 39% in Uganda’s telecom industry.

“This happens to be the first in-market acquisition in Bharti Airtel’s history. We believe this market consolidation offers great synergies by bringing together the best of Airtel and Warid to better serve customers in Uganda,” said Manoj Kohli, MD and CEO (International) of Bharti Airtel.

Airtel is ranked the fourth largest mobile services provider in terms of customer base globally has operations in 17 African countries, with an estimated 62 customers at the quarter ended December 31at 2012.

But for many Uganda customers of Warid, the worry is on whether all the low price calling, sms and internet packages that Warid was offering will continue, and whether Airtel can continue to push the price down for the benefit of customers as Warid has been doing.

The post Ugandans watch anxiously as Warid Telecom Uganda sells to Bharti Airtel first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Millions of people in the East African Countries of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania are experiencing internet service interruptions and businesses relying on internet services are about to collapse. Such businesses include computer service centres, computer training centres, website designers and internet cafes.

The owners of businesses relying on internet for survival have written memos to their service providers such as MTN, Airetel, Orange Telecom, Uganda telecom, Vodacom and Warid telecom for an explanation.

In the Republic of Uganda, Orange telecom has sent messages to her customers reading that “Dear valued customers; we are experiencing a service interruption on our back up link to Kenya which has affected your internet experience. We have been told that MTN, Warid, UTL and Airtel have written similar messages to their customers.

The post Millions experience internet service interruptions first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

The government has said that it will not renew the licenses of the mobile phone service providers if they do not improve services for their customers.

The ICT State Minister, Nyombi Thembo while talking at the meeting of telecommunication companies in Kampala said that there are many reports from the general public complaining of poor service delivery in telecommunications industry.

Thembo says that the reports got from the members of the public will act as the basis for renewing the licenses of operation.

He said that it is the government’s responsibility to protect its citizens from the exploitation of the capitalists.

There are a number of mobile phone service providers in Uganda including Airtel, MTN, Warid, Orange and Uganda Telecom and about 10 million Ugandans have mobile phones.

The post Uganda Telephone companies risk losing licenses first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.