The Uganda communications commission (UCC) has been given a two month ultimatum to crack the whip on telecom companies which send unsolicited messages to their customers.

The ultimatum was issued by MPs on the information and communication technology (ICT) committee during a meeting with the UCC on Tuesday.
MPs Odonga Otto, Mariam Nalubega, Vicent Bagire and committee chairperson Paula Turyahikayo noted that sending unsolicited messages tantamount to “invasion of privacy”.

“Telecom companies need to be regulated. Even at mid night they send messages about winning boda bodas or joining some kind of lottery. This is an invasion of privacy, which can lead to law suits, “Otto said.
Bernard Atiku said networks of different service providers normally drop calls or suffer interpretations in the network, but don’t fail to deliver unsolicited messages.

The MPs want UCC to revoke licenses of repeat offenders saying the messages are used to defraud unsuspecting innocent customers.
According to the executive director of UCC, Godfrey Mutabazi, UCC is in the process of drafting new terms for service providers in an attempt to improve telecom services in the country.
“We are equally concerned about this issue. We shall be meeting stakeholders next week and later on the public about changes in the regulation of telecom companies,” Mutabazi said.

Mutabazi said UCC had imported quality of service and monitoring equipment to help monitor and enforce quality benchmarks like number of blocked and dropped calls.
As a member of the international Telecom Union, UCC has a set of minimum acceptable standards that telecom service providers adhere to.
Mobile phone users have repeatedly complained about these messages by service providers in form of news alerts, lotteries or sales promotions.
These messages sometimes lead to unexpected deductions of credit from mobile phone users.

UCC is mandated to effectively regulate the communications sector in order to facilitate the growth of communications services for sustainable development.

From: New Vision

While we’re used to seeing upgrades from our favorite tech products, Gmail has made an important step in the opposite direction.

Google launched Gmail SMS Wednesday, offering a mobile-based email solution for people in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. Gmail SMS is a tech downgrade, but it’s a lifestyle upgrade for email users without consistent Internet access.

“There’s so much you do with it: apply for a job, make an inquiry, get notifications from your social network, receive photos or an invitation that makes you smile, and just communicate back and forth with your friends,” said a post on Google’s Africa blog.

“However, sometimes barriers arise between you and your email. What if you’re not by a computer? Or your phone is not connected to the internet? Or the internet is down or too slow, so that emails just won’t load?”

Gmail SMS, a free product, allows mobile phone users to send and receive emails without a Wi-Fi or 3G connection. The new product is designed for the most basic of phones, supporting only voice and SMS.

The Google Africa blog post outlined setting up Gmail SMS in five steps:

1. Select “Account” at the top right hand corner of your Gmail web browser.
2. Select “Open SMS settings” in the phone and SMS section.
3. Enter the phone number where you’d like to receive emails.
4. Enter a verification code sent to your phone as an SMS.
5. Select to have emails forwarded to your phone.

From: www.mashable.com

On right track, Uganda’s ICT sector has in the last decade registered tremendous growth.

The minister of information and communication technology (ICT), Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, has said government’s decision to invest more in education, infrastructure and agriculture will in the long run help enhance the development and the use of ICT in Uganda.

In an interview with daily monitor, Dr. Rugunda said while the allocations to ICT stayed low, investments in priority sectors will put in place a favorable business environment that will enable more people to easily involve in ICT inventions, innovations and usage.

“Massive investment in key sectors mainly education, infrastructure and agriculture will boost ICT performance. When you invest in these sectors, you are in effect increasing wealth of more Ugandans and improving the business environment,” Dr Rugunda said.

He added: “The development of ICT will not be a product of the budget allocations to the sector but rather a product of the availability of a good education system, energy and infrastructure. The government attaches great importance to the ICT sector.”

While the ICT sector is among the leading sectors of the economy contributing about 6 per cent to Uganda‘s GDP, resources allocated to it have stayed low.

In the 2012/13 budget, it was allocated shs12.2 billion, shs100 million more than the shs12.1 billion it received in the 2011/12 budget.

This allocation represents about 0.1 per cent of the national resource envelop.

From Monitor

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd is negotiating with different institutions so that students can access course works and other educative notes, using Samsung phones. This initiative will start before the end of this year.

“We are negotiating with Makerere University and other institutions so that students pursuing  post graduate programmes can be the first to benefit from this initiative,”Simon Kariithi, Sales director (In photo), Sam Sung Electronic Co. Ltd said while launching the Samsung Galaxy phone at the Serena Hotel.

Kiriithi added that Kenyan Universities had already enjoying this programme.

“We partnered with them and students who don’t want to attend the lectures, can access notes, using Sam Sung phones. Our customer is able to multi task between several applications without having to close any of them. More than 400,000 applications are available for down load,”he explained.

He asked Government to lower the taxes imposed on mobile phones, in order to make them cheap.

“These days a mobile phone is necessity.  Government should reduce taxes, so that they are affordable, “he noted.

Speaking at the same function Robert Ngeru emphasized that Sam Sung Electronic had introduced this new product, to provide a platform for more than 8million mobile subscribers to upgrade from basic handsets functionalities to smart phone capabilities.

Huawei Technologies, a Chinese IT solution provider, has launched a competition that will see students from three local universities develop software applications aimed at addressing local needs.
Under the Huawei Android Application Challenge Makerere, Kyambogo and Kampala International universities will take part in the competition.

The move aims at supporting creativity and technological innovations that make a difference in the lives of Ugandans.
Huawei Uganda chief executive officer Yang Yang said through such activities, they can continue tapping and promoting local talent.
Yang said this will increase localized content and spur growth and development of ICT programmes.

ICT state minister Nyombi Thembo said about 14 million Ugandans own mobile phones, an indication of the sector’s continued growth.
“Many Ugandans access the internet through their mobile phone. The time is now to develop products to reach these Ugandans,” Nyombi said at the launch of the campaign at Makerere Guest House last week.

In and earlier partnership between Makerere University and the technology giant, 10 Makerere students and there tutors where sent for a one-week specialized training in ICT at the Huawei Training Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.
“Uganda has many investment opportunities and ICT is one of tem. We have a high population and market that is growing fast. Because of oil prospects, there is need for more computer technology,” Yang said.

He said under Makerere and Huawei Technologies, more students will benefit from the project.
Experts say Uganda needs to invest heavily in the ICT sector because it is a strategic driver for addressing increasing challenges facing the country.
Nyombi said although a remarkable progress had been made in expanding the ICT infrastructure in colleges, the increasing number of student had posed a number of challenges. There is limited internet facilities, teaching material and innovations centres.

From Monitor Publications