Denis Opudo
In East Africa, Uganda comes second in the network coverage after Kenya. Unlike in Kenya where internet coverage is in most of the rural areas, the larger part of the rural areas in Uganda lacks internet. The inadequate telecommunication infrastructure makes it hard to provide internet access in the rural areas of Uganda. Hence, the only way to make the areas accessible to the internet is through the use of satellite broadband.
Satellite broadband is not limited to geographical location or infrastructure since it does not require the use of cables. It offers a less costly and less complicated infrastructure to put up internet, and in effect, there would be a wide internet coverage. A case study done in Kenya revealed the advantages of satellite broadband.
The Kenyan health care system has greatly benefited from the satellite distribution. For instance, in Kiambu County, patients’ care is well administered in the region courtesy of satellite connectivity. The availability of satellite broadband connectivity and the presence of new software enables local healthcare facilities to share critical information and deal with the patient’s queries in the best manner because of the merging of the medical records from all healthcare facilities within the county. Also, the time to attend to the patient has been greatly reduced and made quicker.
The education sector has also been improved e-learning has been made accessible to students in a less costly and accurate ways. However, it is not only the health and education sectors that have benefitted from the initiative but also the government. Government organizations have been able to distribute information to individuals irrespective of where they are by use of satellite broadband connectivity.
In South Africa, people can know the value of their pension after the launch of an outreach project aimed at engaging with the pensioners by the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF). The software enables all-time accessibility to the pension data irrespective of where one is. Through the partnership of private and public organizations, 1.2 million members of GEPF can access important financial services.
According to World Bank, the economic growth in most countries is facilitated by the increase in broadband connectivity. The only way Uganda can attain its economic growth of 5.8 by 2018 is by ensuring that almost all the towns within the country are connected to satellite broadband. Additionally, both the private and public sectors should work in harmony to realize the development.
