Uganda’s communications regulator the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC) has followed its Kenyan counterparts and slashed the interconnection rates for telecommunications companies operating in the country.
The new rates fell from USh131 to USh112 effective from June 1. This came after stakeholders in the industry reached an agreement to cut the rates following a study commissioned by UCC last year in November.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers who carried out the study recommended the new interconnection rate at Sh98 compared to the current rate 112 announced by UCC.
“This whole process was consultative and we were not obliged to go as per the recommendations that were issued by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and that is why we settled on USh112,” Fred Otunnu UCC communications Manager said while explaining the new rate.
The interconnection rate is the cost of routing calls from one telecommunications operator to another, to allow telecommunications operators connect to each other’s infrastructure to allow for cross network communication.
Despite the new charges, the calling rates did not lower automatically as many subscribers had hoped. Telecoms companies have welcomed the new rates rather cautiously, since they are “closely looking at the opportunities for our customers to benefit from this new development,” according to Stanley Henning, Uganda Telecom’s chief operation officer.
However, Airtel has already reduced SMS cost from USh110 to USh50 and is promising its subscribers better deals.
Kenya still has lower interconnection rates especially after last week’s review, making their calling rates stand at USh0, half of Uganda’s current rates.
