MTN Uganda lays more fibre, widens 5G reach and eyes the last mile of digital inclusion

In much of rural Uganda, internet access remains a luxury, but MTN Uganda, the country’s largest telecom operator, hopes to change that.

In 2024, it spent UGX 418 billion ($110 million) to bolster its network, part of a wider push to narrow the country’s digital divide and bring “the connected life” to communities long left behind.

The firm has already nudged its 4G LTE footprint from 85.1% of the population to 87.9%. The real leap, however, has come with 5G: once practically non-existent, coverage now extends to 15.3% of Ugandans. Fibre, too, is snaking its way farther across the country, with a 47% expansion pushing MTN’s network to 17,774km.

Fibre, more than any radio signal, is what underpins a reliable network. MTN’s digital infrastructure arm, Bayobab Uganda, recently laid a 260km line from Kampala to Malaba, piggybacking on the Uganda Railway corridor.

The $4m route connects the country to Kenya’s Mombasa landing stations, where undersea cables bring bandwidth from across the world. By aligning telecom infrastructure with transport corridors, MTN is hedging bets on East Africa’s digital and commercial integration.

This investment drive is part of a broader network upgrade set to continue through July 2025, targeting improvements in voice, data and mobile money services. The phased rollout prioritises the Greater Central region before reaching Uganda’s north, east and southwest.

But fast connectivity is no longer just a business-to-business concern. MTN is also stepping deeper into homes. Its WakaNet service, delivered via fixed LTE and fibre, is being extended under a new 5G-powered “Home” initiative. The aim is to bring high-speed wireless broadband to urban and peri-urban households often skipped by fibre cables.

 “So, these initiatives aim to transform the digital experience for millions of Ugandans,” says Thomas Motlepa, Chief Technical and Information Officer at MTN Uganda.

This transformation, Motlepa says, fits squarely within the firm’s Ambition 2025 strategy, which places digital inclusion at the centre of MTN’s commercial and developmental goals.

The timing is not accidental. Across Uganda, the number of fixed and mobile internet users surpassed 106,000 and 19.5million respectively as the end of fourth quarter of 2024, according to Uganda Communications Commission Market report. The competition to connect, and profit from, those final users is therefore fierce.

But MTN Uganda’s investment may also pay other dividends: improved productivity, better public services, and perhaps a modest narrowing of Uganda’s gaping rural-urban divide. As more fibre is laid and antennas rise, the digital future for Uganda’s farthest-flung communities may finally begin to look less distant.