During a press brief held earlier today at Kabira Country Club Bukoto, Smile Telecom stamped its continued presence in Uganda with hopes of resuming its full services by 30th June 2021 depending on the high court decision towards the ongoing dispute between the telco and one of its partners.

Smile attributes the major cause of the ongoing outage to the dispute between it and one of its critical suppliers since both parties failed to reach a mutual understanding attracting an escalation of prevailing matters to the courts of law.

The court decision expected to be concluded on 21st June 2022 is essential to both Smile’s past and future operations in Uganda. With less on who the critical partner is, the Smile Country Manager assured customers that whether the court decision comes out in the telco’s favor or not, they will find ways to compensate customers for the losses incurred.

As Smile, we shall come back, and we shall come back in a good way.

We are making efforts, and can confidently say, if you are within Namave industrial park, the services are up, we are trying to make sure that this partner comes to the table, and if that doesn’t work, then a network similar to Namave will be rolled out.

Silvanus Okoth – Smile Country Manager

As an IT standard, network redundancy is an important factor for any provider across the world. By this standard, Smile telecom currently has a live network available in the areas of Namanve Industrial Park, Seeta, Kireka, and Bweyogerere.

As confirmed by the country manager, the current plan used in Namanve may be adopted to all its coverage areas depending on the court’s decision on 21st June 2022. If Smile wins the case, normal network operations will resume, else, the backup plan is one the ongoing efforts the telco has adopted to find solutions even before the court verdict.

With the Ugandan Communication Commission (UCC) in the know of the matter, Smile thanks them for assisting in the dialogue process between the telco and its critical partner to ensure the restoration of services for customers is achieved.

As a commitment, each and every Smile customer that is affected by the current outage will be fully compensated once the telco makes a successful comeback. For now, the telco confirms efforts to have its services restored throughout the country before or after the court’s decision.

On top of staying active once used up, the bundle supports connection speeds of up to 21Mbps making it ideal for streaming 4K video content, real-time online gaming, and accomplishing bulk tasks like big sized downloads, and many more

Leaping off the Smile monthly bundles legacy which has unlimited internet, and MB/GB offers, the new Smile data king bundle combines a taste of unlimited usage and more data by staying active when you hit a 100% usage cap. If compared to the current monthly bundle tier from telcos like MTN, Airtel, Africell, Smile’s new bundle is a definition of more data for less.

According to the Smile head of marketing Mr. Jayanta Dutta, the new Smile data king bundle is the first of its kind with an always-on model which allows a user to stay connected even when the bundle gets used up. With the telco boosting 4G LTE coverage in most parts of the country, the bundle is one that suits businesses and big data subscribers alike.

“We are passionate about our customers’ needs and want to make it easy and more affordable for them to stay online as long as they need. With DataKing, we keep our customers connected at SuperFast internet data speed, even when the 115GB data included is all used up. We are committed to bringing offers to market, giving our customers the best-value SuperFast internet and more reasons to smile”,

Jayanta Dutta –– Head of Marketing, Smile Uganda.

Given its midrange pricing structure, the new Smile Data King bundle follows the telco’s monthly average bundles price at UGX 222,000 with 115GB data valid for 30days at speeds of up to 21Mbps, then, once the bundle is used up, a subscriber gets 1GB daily free until the bundle meets its expiry date.

In a nutshell, Smile has set a new pace in the monthly data bundles league, and given the competition landscape, it will not be by surprise if other mobile operators like MTN, Africell, or Airtel introduce a similar offer for customers as extra node to super-fast, yet affordable internet connectivity in Uganda.

Given the fact that Smile Communications is a voice + data provider with marginal offerings in Uganda, the telco’s wide network coverage across the country makes it a reliable choice for internet usage.

By internet speeds, Smile 4G LTE routers transmit data packages based on available network bands in an area. All routers support 2G/3G and 4G LTE connectivity that can be set depending on your data usage behavior.

Mobile WiFi (MiFi) is a starter router designed for home and mobile usage on the go. A Smile MIFI supports upto 10 simultaneously connected devices at the same time. In a like manner, the device equips a 3000mAh battery that supports connectivity with an average uptime of 10 hours.

On the other hand, a Smile Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) router is an upgraded variant that supports better network connectivity and multiple users that can be served with over 5 active hotspots hosted on the single CPE router.

As a customer welcome package, all Smile 4G LTE routers come with preloaded data and voice packages. A starter Smile MIFI comes with free 15GB of data for 3months + free unlimited calls for 1 month.

Then, the Smile CPE router comes with free 30GB valid for 1 month + unlimited calls + 10GB monthly for the first 6 months upon top-up of 25GB or more. Nonetheless, below are the features of Smile 4G LTE routers and their prices in Uganda.

List of Smile 4G LTE Routers in Uganda

10 User Smile MIFI Router

32 User Smile CPE Router

How Smile 4G LTE Routers compare with other telecom routers

If compared to MTN, Airtel, and Africell routers on the market, Smile routers are not any different in performance plus supported network bands. In fact, the telco’s listed routers are commonly Huawei models just like those retailed by MTN and Africell.

However, by pricing, Smile 4G LTE routers are affordable just like those offered by the trio. For instance, the base 10 user router is priced at 130,000/= for Africell, 123,000/= for Airtel, and 189,000 for MTN.

Then, the base CPE Router is priced at 280,000/= with Airtel Broadband, 270,000/= with MTN Wakanet, then 210,000/= with Africell as compared to UGX 225,000 with Smile Internet.

Henceforth, the next time you opt to buy a stock WiFi Router, you can opt for Smile 4G routers once you compare offered features and specs with those offered by the rest of the pack.