Universal access in Uganda
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getting service providers to contribute to the common rural fund; providing a limited and
selected set of services through support of investment in rural communications; and
promoting the usage of ICT (UCC, 2001).
The UCC estimated that as of July 2001, communications services outside the
capital city and its environs were confined at district and county administrative centers
and in major towns. Even so, coverage tended to be limited to a radius of 10 kilometers
or six miles. Therefore, the RCDP strategy was to install one public payphone to serve
every 5,000 people or at least one payphone in every sub-county
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(UCC, 2001). The sub-
county in Uganda, and there are 920 of them, is not only the primary local government
unit but also the main point for the delivery of public services.
The UCC anticipated that of the 920 sub-counties, 520 would be covered by mid-
2001 while 400 would remain unserved. Of these 400, it was expected that 200 would be
covered by mid-2002. This meant that the remaining 200 sub-counties would go without
service largely because of being sparsely populated and remote. These are the ones that
the RCDF was particularly designed to benefit because the prevailing conditions would
make commercial services unviable in these areas. Basing on patterns in the development
of the communications system, the UCC envisioned that by 2002 basic services would be
available in the entire country both at district and county levels. The policy implication of
this trend was to turn the focus on needy sub-counties.
The aims of the RCDF were translated into specific outputs. One, all sub-counties
with a minimum population of 5,000 would have access to basic communication services
by 2005. Two, an Internet Point of Presence (PoP), each affiliated with at least one public
Internet café, would be set up at every district headquarters by 2003. Three, at least one
Convention