Liberalisation of the Telecommunications Sector: From Public Monopoly to Competitive Telecommunications Markets

Abstract

The analysis of the regulatory framework for competition in Uganda’s telecommunications sector is borne out of the need to determine whether or not the framework adopted by countries in Sub-Saharan Africa is insufficient for purposes of meeting the regulatory requirements in the liberalised telecommunications sector. In order to properly analyse the efficacy of the telecommunications regulatory framework, it is important, as a first step, to trace the origins of competition in Uganda’s telecommunications sector. Therefore, this chapter looks at the reasons behind the introduction of competition in the telecommunications sector which has traditionally been a monopoly. The first section briefly discusses the reasons that triggered the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector from a global perspective. The second section focuses on the key factors that brought about the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector in Uganda. This is followed by an overview of the evolution of the telecommunications policy in Uganda from monopoly to competition.