The Uganda government will install 2,000 Wi-Fi hotspots across the country in a move that will extend internet access in far-flung areas.
The project is being done as part of the US$75 million Regional Communications Infrastructure Programme that started in 2016, and ends this year.
The free Wi-Fi hotspots installation programme will be rolled out in every location where government’s national backbone infrastructure exists. Funded by the World Bank, the project has registered significant gains with government’s plan to extend Wi-Fi across the country based on extension of the geographic reach of broadband connectivity across the country.
READ ALSO: Uganda officers charged over bride's arrest at wedding
The Uganda Monitor quotes a senior Government official saying citizens will be able to access the network after hours while Government officials will utilize the facility during peak hours.
“We would like to provide free internet to selected areas at selected times. The internet that we are providing will be utilised by government during working hours, and by citizens after working hours, and weekends,” said the official.
He added that the internet will also be used during emergencies for people applying for government services such as national identification registration.
Government has so far installed 600 Wi-Fi hotspots with 300 of these situated in regional cities and another 300 in Kampala.
However, the reliability of Wi-Fi hotspots, it remains an issue that will need to be resolved. According to tests done randomly by the Monitor, the free Wi-Fi hotspots provided within and in places around Kampala such as at Kyambogo University are “sometimes unstable”.
Still, the project has contributed to the extension of 764 kilometres of Optical Fibre Cable added onto the Government National Backbone Infrastructure.
hourlyhits