IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/eprcrs/148958.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A Scoping Study of the Mobile Telecommunications Industry in Uganda

Author

Abstract

The paper aims at mapping out the Mobile Telecommunications Industry in Uganda with a view to identify areas for further research in a systematic and more detailed way. The economic and social upgrading/downgrading conceptual framework to guide the Capturing the Gains research agenda was used in this process. The paper briefly presents the mobile phone domains, emphasising the relevant parts for Uganda, which include; software development, sales and marketing, mobile service provision and end use developmental elements. The paper gives highlights of the growth and explosion of the mobile telecommunications sector in the last two decades underpinning the drivers of this growth, which include deregulation, liberalisation, technology advancement, the growing population and Uganda’s strategic hinterland location. It is demonstrated that Mobile-phone Network Operators (MNOs) in Uganda are owned by companies with strong global value chains, which spread continentally to other African countries, Arab countries and in the case of Orange, France. The MNOs include MTN, UTL, Warid, Airtel and Orange. To provide insights into potential areas for further research on economic and social upgrading, the paper looks at outsourcing, infrastructure and the developmental aspects of mobile phones. The paper outlines areas for further research, which include money transfer, health, agriculture and outsourcing of services by MNOs. Finally, given that outsourcing of some of the services by MNOs is salient, conditions of work in MNOs and the outsourced companies is critical.

Suggested Citation

  • Shinyekwa, Isaac, 2012. "A Scoping Study of the Mobile Telecommunications Industry in Uganda," Research Series 148958, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:eprcrs:148958
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.148958
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/148958/files/series90.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.148958?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bair, Jennifer & Gereffi, Gary, 2001. "Local Clusters in Global Chains: The Causes and Consequences of Export Dynamism in Torreon's Blue Jeans Industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 1885-1903, November.
    2. Robinson,, 2010. "Developing the Third World," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521131506.
    3. Amartya SEN, 2000. "Work and rights," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 139(2), pages 119-128, June.
    4. Ferris, Shaun & Engoru, Patrick & Kaganzi, Elly, 2008. "Making market information services work better for the poor in Uganda," CAPRi working papers 77, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Jenny C. Aker & Isaac M. Mbiti, 2010. "Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 207-232, Summer.
    6. Muto, Megumi & Yamano, Takashi, 2009. "The Impact of Mobile Phone Coverage Expansion on Market Participation: Panel Data Evidence from Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 1887-1896, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cariolle, Joël, 2021. "International connectivity and the digital divide in Sub-Saharan Africa," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    2. Sekabira, Haruna & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Can mobile phones improve gender equality and nutrition? Panel data evidence from farm households in Uganda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 95-103.
    3. Kyeong Ho Lee & Marc F. Bellemare, 2013. "Look Who's Talking: The Impacts of the Intrahousehold Allocation of Mobile Phones on Agricultural Prices," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(5), pages 624-640, May.
    4. Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "The Effects of Mobile Phone Technology, Knowledge Creation and Diffusion on Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 1367-1398, September.
    5. Hawthorne, Ryan & Grzybowski, Lukasz, 2021. "Distribution of the benefits of regulation vs. competition: The case of mobile telephony in South Africa," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Martin C. Parlasca & Oliver Mußhoff & Matin Qaim, 2020. "Can mobile phones improve nutrition among pastoral communities? Panel data evidence from Northern Kenya," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(3), pages 475-488, May.
    7. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Aqsa Aziz, 2018. "Determinants of Mobile Phone Penetration: Panel Threshold Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Global Information Technology Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 81-110, April.
    8. Lichen Liang & Robin Shrestha & Shibani Ghosh & Patrick Webb, 2020. "Using mobile phone data helps estimate community-level food insecurity: Findings from a multi-year panel study in Nepal," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, November.
    9. Bertschek, Irene & Niebel, Thomas, 2016. "Mobile and more productive? Firm-level evidence on the productivity effects of mobile internet use," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 888-898.
    10. Kabbiri, Ronald & Dora, Manoj & Kumar, Vikas & Elepu, Gabriel & Gellynck, Xavier, 2018. "Mobile phone adoption in agri-food sector: Are farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa connected?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 253-261.
    11. Dammert, Ana C. & Galdo, Jose C. & Galdo, Virgilio, 2014. "Preventing dengue through mobile phones: Evidence from a field experiment in Peru," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 147-161.
    12. Ward, Michael R. & Zheng, Shilin, 2016. "Mobile telecommunications service and economic growth: Evidence from China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 89-101.
    13. Holden, Stein T. & Tilahun, Mesfin, 2021. "Mobile phones, leadership and gender in rural business groups," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    14. Jean-Philippe Berrou & François Combarnous & Thomas Eekhout, 2017. "Les TIC : une réponse au défi du développement des micro et petites entreprises informelles en Afrique sub-saharienne ?," Working Papers hal-02148324, HAL.
    15. Sekabira, Haruna & Qaim, Matin, 2016. "Mobile Phone Technologies, Agricultural Production Patterns, and Market access in Uganda," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 246310, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    16. Yessica C.Y. Chung & Hung-Hao Chang & Yukinobu Kitamura, 2021. "Digital and traditional media advertising and business performance of agribusiness firms - Empirical evidence in Japan," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 67(2), pages 51-59.
    17. Krone Madlen & Dannenberg Peter, 2018. "Analysing the effects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on the integration of East African farmers in a value chain context," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 62(1), pages 65-81, March.
    18. Min, Shi & Liu, Min & Huang, Jikun, 2020. "Does the application of ICTs facilitate rural economic transformation in China? Empirical evidence from the use of smartphones among farmers," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    19. Thierry PENARD & Nicolas POUSSING & Gabriel ZOMO YEBE & Philémon NSI ELLA, 2012. "Comparing the Determinants of Internet and Cell Phone Use in Africa: Evidence from Gabon," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(86), pages 65-83, 2nd quart.
    20. Niebel, Thomas, 2018. "ICT and economic growth – Comparing developing, emerging and developed countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 197-211.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:eprcrs:148958. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/eprccug.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.