Walter Wafula
9 July 2009
Kampala — The BroadBand Company, a new Internet Service Provider, is expected to unveil its services to Ugandans at prices lower than what most of the current players in the market are offering this Friday.
According to the Managing Director, Arvid Knutsen, the Kampala-based firm will be formally launched by the Vice President Gilbert Bukenya at the Kampala Serena Hotel tomorrow.
The firm will start off its services by offering internet at speeds between 64 Kilobits (Kb) per second and 512Kb per second at between Shs147, 000 and Shs1.5 million per month on its shared packages. For internet that is not shared with other users, the prices range between Shs483, 000 and Shs3.4 million. For individual use, the firm will offer the 3G portable modems with internet at Shs283,500 compared to the average of Shs320,000 offered by other service providers with the exception of Warid Telecom, which offers 2G devices at about Shs240,000. The cost of accessing the internet and voice services is expected to drop further this year, with the launch of the three submarine cables that are under construction from the coast of Mombasa in Kenya.
Speaking at the media launch held at T1 Club, Mr Knutsen said the Broadband Company is the first Internet provider in Uganda to offer services under the latest wireless internet platform called WIMAX E going beyond the current offerings of WiMAX.
"This ensures a faster and more reliable connection and ultimately a more satisfactory Internet surfing experience for our customers," he said, adding that the company is committed to giving customers "more than what they expect".
"BroadBand Company will be taking you into a world of increased accessibility and endless possibilities," he told the press on Tuesday.
BroadBand Company, which was licensed by the Uganda Communications Commission over a year ago, operates under mother company TMP Uganda Ltd, whose majority shareholder is PME Investment Fund, a London based company. The other shareholders are TMP Management, a Norway based company, and a local consortium, Suubi Services Uganda Limited.
Currently, the company's services are only in Kampala. The company is, however, rolling out its infrastructure to the districts of Jinja and Entebbe. Mr Knusten said their services will be available in the districts in the coming months. According to Mr Knutsen, the company also plans to introduce Voice Over IP service, which will reduce the cost of making calls, as well as offer IP video conferencing, Data Warehousing, Domain Name servicing and more.
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Hello, Am Ntale Umar from metrpole Hotel Kampala.My inquiry is that what are the proceedures of getting your inetrnet package and how much should one need to have in order to have it for domestic use?Because am seeing adverts every where in kampala but... Umar Ntale