Indicator 17.6.1 Fixed Internet broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by speed

Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development

Target 17.6: Enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge-sharing on mutually agreed terms, including through improved coordination among existing mechanisms, in particular at the United Nations level, and through a global technology facilitation mechanism

17.6.1. Fixed Internet broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by speed.

November 2021

Indicator 8.2, 9.1, 9.c, 17.8

Uganda Communications Commission

Uganda Communications Commission

Bayusuf Katyokori, Bamwesigye Keith

Economic Regulation

Officer Competition and Pricing, Senior Officer Industry Intelligence

+256 779 865618, +256 775 954469

P.O. Box 7376 KAMPALA, P.O. Box 7376 KAMPALA

bkatyokori@ucc.co.ug, kbamwesigye@ucc.co.ug

The indicator fixed Internet broadband subscriptions, by speed, refers to the number of fixed-broadband subscriptions to the public Internet, split by advertised download speed.

Percent

ITU indicators global classification

Administrative data from Internet Service Providers

Online submission of the KPIs data from all operators in the communications sector

Monthly

At the end of every first month of the Quarter, the report for the previous quarter is disseminated to the public.

All operators in the communications sector in Uganda

Economic regulation unit, under The Directorate of Industry Affairs and Content, in UCC.

To regulate the communications sector in Uganda which includes: Telecommunications, Broadcasting (TVs), Radio communication, Postal communications, Data communication and infrastructure. (UCC Act 2013)

The Internet has become an increasingly important tool to provide access to information and can help foster and enhance regional and international cooperation on, and access to, science, technology, and innovations, and enhance knowledge sharing.

High-speed Internet access is important to ensure that Internet users have quality access to the Internet and can take advantage of the growing amount of Internet content including user-generated content –, services and information.

While the number of fixed-broadband subscriptions has increased substantially over the last years and while service providers offer increasingly higher speeds, fixed Internet broadband can vary tremendously by speed, thus affecting the quality and functionality of Internet access.

The indicator highlights the potential of the Internet (especially through high-speed access) to enhance cooperation, improve access to science, technology and innovation, and share knowledge. The indicator also highlights the importance of Internet use as a development enabler and helps to measure the digital divide, which, if not properly addressed, will aggravate inequalities in all development domains.

Information on fixed broadband subscriptions by speed will contribute to the design of targeted policies to overcome those divides. To determine the performance of the communications sector and be able to plan and make informed decisions to help in developing the sector.

Since the Internet service providers offer different plans linked to download speed, the indicator is relatively difficult to compute by speed tiers.

The indicator is currently NOT broken down by any subscription speeds, but the telecommunication companies have liberty to classify/package subscription speeds depending on different factors like class of the bundle purchased, quantity of bundles purchased and many others depending on the tariff plans approved by the commission.

The data is collected from all Internet service providers (ISPs) in the country through submission of their fixed broadband subscriptions. The data is then added up to obtain the country totals. Percentage of fixed internet subscriptions is calculated as below;

((Fixed internet subscriptions) ÷ (Total internet subscriptions)) ×100%

Data is checked and validated by Economic Regulation team on behalf of the UCC, using the system called INMS to determine the exact quality of data obtained directly from the operators’ systems. (MNOs & ISPs)

UCC collects data for this indicator through a monthly standardized KPIs template from national Internet service providers. The data from each Internet service provider in the country is automatically disaggregated to provide the number of fixed-broadband subscriptions and then added up to obtain the country’s totals.

Compliance towards the set standards is ensured while obtaining data. The data is verified and validated by the Manager Economic Regulation unit, to ensure that it meets adequate statistical standards.

Internet Service Providers are always engaged in this process.

Valid reasons are provided for any changes in the trend of data obtained. Using our system called INMS we are able to determine the exact quality of data obtained directly from the operators’ systems.

Through availing a standardized template with all the indicators whose data is required, and operators must comply by it.

The data are verified to ensure consistency with previous months’ data and situation of the sector for other related indicators.

Data Availability:

Data is always available monthly through an online portal owned and managed by the commission which all operators submit their KPIs raw data by the 15th day of every month.

Data disaggregation

Since data for this indicator are based on administrative data from Internet Service Providers (ISPs), no information on individual subscribers is available and therefore the data cannot be broken down by any individual characteristics. Data could in theory be broken down by geographic location and urban/rural.

The comparability is affected by the differences in fixed internet speed tiers offered by ISPs. However, the least advertised downstream speed among all ISPs is above 5mps. ISPs do not report data about internet subscriptions disaggregated by speed.

ITU indicator manual ITU Handbook for the Collection of Administrative Data on Telecommunications/ICT 2020: https://www.itu.int/en/ ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/handbook.aspx.