Well, with an effective date of 1st July 2019, UCC’s goal is to have all telecom companies ride with a UGX 55 charge as interconnection fees from UGX 65. As per the telco craze, interconnection fees are rates attracted whenever a subscriber calls another network away from the host network.

For instance, If an MTN customer calls an Airtel number, an Interconnection fee is attracted as the charge MTN has to pay to Airtel to cover up for the call duration. As much as the current cross network call rate is 4/= per second on all major networks, UCC’s implemented rate will see a reduction in the current tariffs to a much favorable node like 3/= per second.

The new Interconnection rates by UCC announcement came in last week during the 2019 telecom forum hosted in Kampala. The UCC director industry affairs and content development, Ms. Juliana Mweheire asserted that SMS and Call prices would soon go down as a result of slashed interconnection fees as she added

The mobile termination rate will be revised from Shs65 to Shs55 per minute for voice while SMS termination rate will be revised from Shs7 to Shs5

Ms Juliana Mweheire

All in all, the Uganda Communication Commission (UCC)’s new slashed rates are part of its plans to make communication affordable and possible for all citizens. As a fact, once the new rates are implemented, On-Net offers like Pakalast, My Pakalast will also borrow a new bonus minutes streak as Airtel cruised in Mega Tok offers as the new Gem.

Speaking to the press yesterday, minister of ICT & Information Hon Frank Tumwebaze confirmed that Parliament had voted out the 1% mobile money tax in favor of a 0.5% amendment against a move by the opposition to fully scrap off a tax that Bank of Uganda previously regarded to as a dangerous policy. However, when a member of our team tried to withdraw money today, URA deducted a 1% tax off the transaction implying the 0.5% policy has not taken effect yet.

What next after the 0.5% mobile money slash

As much as everyone hated mobile money services from the day Government lashed out to telcos in a bid to improve the then 1% tax amidst massive VPN downloads countrywide. The effect of the 0.5% may still negatively impact various customers away from relying on the service for all transactions as the story has been for the past few months from July 2018.

Although 0.5% is the new tax bounty on withdraws only and excluded on sending and mobile money payments. Over the top (OTT) services tax has no proposed amendments to either scrap off the UGX 200 or redivert the figure to data purchases. However, as mobile money tax now carries a 0.5% flag, we might see VPNs lose popularity with a similar cut off social media platforms.

Extra massape was the mother promotion which rewarded users with double data each time they recharged with airtel which extended this offer with a running exciting promotion dubbed the mega massape where customers had to be rewarded with big prizes as the culture states that each year airtel customers must be rewarded for using the making the network biggest in the nation taking down the top rival mtn Uganda which for long has been Uganda’s number 1 network beating Utl which was in the 90s one of Uganda’s most reliable networks for both voice and data.

My pakalast as service by the prominent airtel Uganda attracted more customers to this giant network since it provided them with voice,data and sms all in one single affordable package which varies per mobile number depending on the credit loading frequency by a user,furthermore mtn introduced a similar offer to its customers named My paka paka which was a clear indication that it had been copied from the original airtel offer that had not been publicized more through the media but rolled out later due to the stiff competition between these two giant networks in Uganda.

Eddy Kenzo was the guest of the 2nd last mega massape handover on Friday 15th September where customers were rewarded with motorcycles and lots of cash handed over by the airtel ambassador himself Eddy,furthermore he urged customers to participate in all airtel promotions and win big from the country’s fast growing giant network that is renown for rewarding its customers every year