Impact of Liberalization on Uganda’s Telecommunication Industry

It was marred by several challenges, such as; weak human resource, reports of alleged anti-competitive behavior in form of abuse of the dominant position and poor infrastructure among others thus creating the need for liberation's. The vaporization of this industry broadly aimed at improving the spread and affordability of modern and quality telecommunication services and this was to be achieved by encouraging participation of private investors in the development of the industry, expanding the variety of communication services available in Uganda among others.

Currently, liberalizing as led to the establishment of a well-managed industry with new operators. From around 2002, the CIT developments in the country began to improve rapidly, marked by some regulations. There has been increased competition among players which has positively affected the quality of services provided and increased coverage nationwide among others. This has also resulted in reduction in service prices though they still among the highest in the whole Africa. Therefore this evaluation will focus on assessing the impact of liberation of the telecommunication industry.

For the purpose of this evaluation, the following definitions used; 1. 1 Description of the telecommunications Industry in Uganda A telecommunications service is taken to be the relaying of messages of any form (voice or data) over communication infrastructure between a sender and a receiver. (Uganda Communications Uganda can be categorized into the following; Voice telephony: This comprises local, national (long-distance), and international calls. The two technologies employed in Uganda for providing these services are fixed-line (landlines and fixed-wireless) and mobile cellular (wireless) among others.

Order custom essay Impact of Liberalization on Uganda’s Telecommunication Industry with free plagiarism report

450+ experts on 30 subjects Starting from 3 hours delivery

Get Essay Help

Fixed-Line; this is further subdivided into two categories as; Landlines services: A landlines network - also referred to as a Public Switched Telephone Network (EST.) - connects all customers through a series of transmission and distribution lines. Telephone exchanges move calls throughout the network. Fixed wireless, fixed wireless technologies provide telecommunications service without the use of wires or cable. This includes payphone booths, the predominant fixed wireless service in Uganda.

While other versions of this technology including very high frequency Wireless Local Loop and point-to-point microwave arrives, have been successfully deployed in rural areas in several developing countries, they are only recently being adopted in Uganda. Mobile Cellular; this is a combination of wireless voice telephony with mobility. All mobile cellular service in Uganda is based on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technology. GSM has become the dominant technology worldwide for digital wireless telecommunications. Con One Research, Inc. N association with SEG 51 Data; data Services in Uganda generally refer to fax, Internet Access and virtual private networks (VPN). More enhanced and data-intensive services such as video- nonfreezing are not commonly available. Fixed line landlines services; consumers with access to landlines voice telephony have narrowed (beginning at speeds of 9. 6 Kbps or 14. 4 Kbps and upwards to 33. 6) data services through dial-up. Fixed wireless; this service requires a stationary terminal at the customer premise connecting to the service provider through airwaves (point-to-point microwave or spread spectrum).

Mobile operators in Uganda are using their GSM networks to provide fixed wireless data services in some areas. Narrowed (generally not exceeding 9. 6 Kbps) data services are available in this way. High speed fixed wireless services (64 Kbps and 128 Kbps) are available in Kampala using frequency hopping spread spectrum technologies. This service is being used by operators and their customers to create VPN for large businesses with several offices in Kampala. Mobile Cellular; mobile cellular offerings in data currently include 9. 6 Kbps or 14. 4 Kbps transmission, mainly for SMS (short messaging service).

There has been some Internet access, but speeds are slow. Higher generation mobile cellular data services such as GAPS, EDGE, and G services are not available. Very small aperture terminal (VAST); VAST service sends ND receives data (and voice) transmission to and from satellite earth stations. The satellites are incorporated into global telecommunications networks and provide satellite-based communications to geographically dispersed locations in Uganda and throughout the world. Customers pay for VAST equipment located at their premises and also pay service provider fees. 3. Value Added Services Payphones; these are fixed-line, UN-staffed stations available to the public. They accept either coins or phone cards as payment. In rural areas, they normally appear in trading centers. Phone sharing; this is the service of providing an owned (most often mobile cellular) phone to customers for a fee. It's essentially a very short-term rental service. Because it is often not economical. Particularly in rural areas, for residential users to own phones, this has become a very popular service in Uganda, and has taken on a wide variety of forms.

Computer sharing; this is the service of providing computer terminals with access to the Internet. The most popular form is the cyber cafe©, which often provides not only computers and Internet access, but also additional products and services such as food, fax, entertainment and even computer training. Many cyber cafe©s have recently emerged in Uganda, mostly in Kampala. FM Radio; this is a form of non-interactive CIT that is particularly important for reaching out to rural residents, particularly those unable to access other services. More than 100 stations have become established in Uganda.

Many of these are local language stations based in small urban centers, but with primarily rural coverage, providing a range of information important to the poor such as health education, family planning, commodity prices in local markets, civic education, etc. They incorporate an interesting mix of private, immunity, Non-Government Organization and donor sponsors. Television; this is also a form of non-interactive CIT that is used to transmit moving visual media. Televisions are used to view various subscriptions and non- subscription based programming, movies (via an additional media player).

Television stations have increased from the one TV- CITY to over ten stations though most of them are operated in urban areas rural areas get good transmission of some them. Solutions and add-ones; this is the service of improving the functionality of core services by assistance, training, problem solving and the layering of additional features onto a ore service (e. G. , dial-up connectivity to an ISP, network security, web and mail hosting, etc. ). This is not yet a big market in Uganda, it is predominantly in urban centers.

However; with the liberation's in Uganda, an operator of such telecommunications services must obtain either one or all of the following service licenses; Public Service Provider (SSP) License, Public Voice and Data License, Capacity Resale License, Public Infrastructure Provider License (PIP) and a General License. And these are provided by the Uganda Communications Commission 1. 2 The Objectives of Impact Evaluation Development Assessment Committee (DACCA-COED, 2001) defines impact evaluation as the positive and negative primary and secondary, long term effects produced by a development intervention.

This may be direct or indirect as well as intended or unintended. This should be informed by clear and realistic objectives. Therefore, the objectives of the impact evaluation of the liberation's of the telecommunications industry in Uganda shall be informed by the following objectives. 1. 2. 1 Overall objective of Impact Evaluation The overall objective of the Impact Evaluation (E) of the liberation's of electrification industry in Uganda is "To establish the impact of liberalizing following specific objectives. 1. 2. 2 The Specific Objectives 1 .

To assess the impact of liberalizing of the telecommunication sector in Uganda on the expansion of national coverage of communication services and products 2. To establish the impact of liberalizing of the telecommunication industry on the pricing and quality of services provided by the industry in Uganda 3. To establish the effect of liberalizing of the telecommunication industry on direct and indirect funding by government to the sector 4. To assess the effect of liberation of the telecommunication industry on the level of innovation in the industry. . 3 The Hypothesis The following assumptions have been advanced to determine the above objectives. These include; 1 . Liberation of the telecommunication industry has greatly impacted on the expansion of national coverage of communication services and products 2. Liberation of the telecommunication industry has had a positive impact on pricing and quality of services provided by the industry in Uganda? 3. Liberation of the telecommunication industry has positively affected direct and indirect budgetary allocation by government to the sector 4.

Liberation of the telecommunication industry has to a great extent affected the level of innovation in the industry. 1. 4 The Theory of Change The achievement of the programmer impact will be based on the following theory of change as illustrated in the diagram below. 1. 5 Evaluation Questions: 1 . How has the liberation of the telecommunication sector impacted on the expansion of national coverage of communication services and products? 2. What impact has the liberation of the telecommunication industry had on the pricing ND quality of services provided by the industry in Uganda? . What effect has the liberalizing of the telecommunication industry had on direct and indirect funding by government to the sector? 4. To what extent has liberation of the telecommunication industry affected the level of innovation in the industry? The Logic Model 1 . Percentage coverage of telecommunication infrastructure nationwide 2. Proportion of households with access to telecommunication services 3. Proportion of households with access to uninterrupted connection time and service 4. Proportion of budgetary allocation to the telecommunication industry 5.

Percentage of increase in innovation in the telecommunication industry 1. 7 The Evaluation Design and Method The evaluation will adopt both quantitative and qualitative approaches. However, more emphasis will be put on the qualitative approach which provides in-depth and reliable information that will be used to explain quantitative findings. Nevertheless, it has its own shortcomings for example generalization cannot be done using qualitative data. This limitation will be catered for by the quantitative method.

With regards to the evaluation design, the evaluation will adopt the non-experimental sign taking on the longitudinal design in particular which will be carried out after every three years. The non-experimental design also known as descriptive designs was selected because it provides an extensive description of the relationship between an intervention and its effects which will greatly suit the evaluation to be undertaken. In particular, the propensity score matching evaluation method will also be used adopted.

This will involve the creation of the best possible artificial comparison groups by matching large data sets and heavy statistical techniques. With this, for each unit in the treatment group and in the pool of non-enrolled units, the probability that a unit will enroll in a program based on observed values will be computed. Once the propensity score is computed then the units in the treatment group will be matched with units in the pool of non-enrollees that have the closest propensity score. The difference in outcome between the treatment or enrolled units and their matched comparison units will produce the estimated impact of the program.

The Sampling method/technique With regards to the sampling technique, the evaluation will use both probability and UT the study population and these include; (I) Purposive sampling; this will be used by the evaluator to identify key respondents that have information on the topic being evaluated and this information will be used to enrich the evaluation. Also, Purposive sampling will be used to select 2 districts from each clustered region using population density as the basis where we will select one district from each region with a high population density and one with a low population density.

Cluster sampling; using cluster sampling, the evaluator will be able to cluster the area under valuation which is the whole country into 7 regions which are; the central, western, southwestern, Eastern, North Eastern, West Nile, and Northern region. The same sampling method will also be used to cluster the selected districts into 5 supervision areas. (iii) Lot quality sampling (LOS); the sampling method will be used to cluster the selected districts into 5 supervision areas as recommended by the LOS method where, a sample of 19 households as recommended by LOS will be selected from each of the purposively selected districts.

This according to the LOS method gives the highest confidence level. 'v) Simple random and systematic random sampling; simple random sampling will be used to randomly select the first interview location, thereafter; systematic sampling will be adopted to sample subsequent households that will participate in the survey from the random number table. Sampling procedure Since the study is covering the whole country, the evaluator will cluster the districts into 7 regions. These include the Central, Western, Southwestern, Eastern, North Eastern, West Nile, and Northern region.

Multi-stage cluster approach will be adopted and two districts purposively selected from each region. In particular, two districts will be selected from each region basing on the population density where districts with the highest and lowest population densities will be purposively selected to determine the level coverage in the two scenarios. Five supervision areas will be identified from each district. This will involve combining parishes to form five supervision areas in case of districts with less or more sub-counties.

A total 19 samples will be drawn from each supervision area and samples drawn at parish level. The cumulative population of the district will be divided by the sample number f households (19) as recommended by the LOS method which will give the sample interval. When this is obtained, the obtained sample interval will be used to identify the first household from the random table where a value will be read and used to compare to the listed household list. To then get the subsequent interview or household the evaluator will add the sample interval to the first identified listed household.

The Sample Size For the survey technique, the sample population which are the households will be selected from the 7 regions mentioned above where from each district a total of 95 should will be sampled that is 19 households from each of the 5 clustered supervision areas. In all, a total of 1,330 households will be sampled to participate in the evaluation. 1. 8 Evaluation data collection Methods The evaluation will use both primary and secondary sources. The primary sources will mainly involve field data collection whereas secondary data will be obtained from review of published documents.

In particular, the following methods will be used; administered to households that will be systematically selected to participate in the evaluation. Development of the questionnaire will involve all the relevant parties who ill identify important issues to be covered in the evaluation. Key Informant Interviews; this will be done face to face with purposively selected respondents that are knowledgeable about the liberalizing of the telecommunication industry. It will provide sufficient descriptive information and will be carried out using a short interview guide.

Recording: this will be used to record responses provided by the purposively selected key informants. The recordings will then be transcribed into notes which will be used in the analysis process. Documentation; the evaluator will include data from various published sources or documents. In doing this, the evaluator will first try to verify to ensure that data to be used in the evaluation was properly collected with accuracy Observation; there will be observation made with regards to confirming whether cables have been laid to confirm responses provided like infrastructure in form of for example optic cables, network availability and so on. . 9 Data Processing, Analysis and Reporting For the quantitative approach, this process will involve; organizing data, calculating and interpreting the data obtained. The evaluator will begin by organizing all questionnaires to check for completeness, accuracy and assign a unique identifier to each questionnaire. The evaluator will then go on to define the correct responses and then code them accordingly.

Once this is done, data will be entered in to computer; analyses using the SPAS package and calculations will be made to describe the raw data where measures of central tendency will mainly be used to determine performance of each indicator. The information will then be interpreted and presented using tabulations, maps, pie- charts and so on. For qualitative approach, analysis of evaluation data will begin from the field where arioso observation and analytical insights will be noted and unclear responses clarified.

This data will then be safely stored. Once the evaluator leaves the field, the collected data will be read and themes, categories identified and coding done. From this, data will then present in an evaluation report which will be disseminated to various stakeholders. 1. 10 Ethical Considerations The process of impact evaluation requires guidance and adherence to ethical standards of the utmost importance. The evaluation team will ensure strict adherence to these standards including. In particular, the following will be observed;

Don't let plagiarism ruin your grade

Run a free check or have your essay done for you

Check my essay Hire Writer