By Everest Mukiibi
TELECOMMUNICATION companies have told legislators that government should remove taxes on smartphones so that they are sold cheaply and become accessible for most Ugandans which in turn would lead to a cut in data costs.
Appearing before the parliamentary committee on Information, communication, technology and national guidance to respond to the Kawempe South Member of Parliament Bashir Kazibwe petition on high data charges, poor network and high mobile money charges, Airtel and MTN companies informed parliamentarians that the blame of high data charges should not be put on them but to the government.
Wim Vanhellepute, the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Uganda noted that only 1 in 3 Ugandans you meet has a smartphone which leads to high costs and yet if the number of smartphone users is high, the data charges are reduced adding that the companies incur a lot of money to ensure that those on internet access data and have to increase charges not to lose what they invest in.
When committee members questioned them about the inaccessibility of the network in some parts of the country, Wim noted that some citizens including government agencies are the main cause of this since they fail to give them land to construct masts.
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