Uganda's Ministry of ICT & NG and Huawei Build Converged National Backbone Network

At HUAWEI CONNECT 2025's WAN Roundtable, Kenneth Bagarukayo, Commissioner of Data Networks at Uganda's Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) & National Guidance (NG), delivered the speech "Digital Uganda Vision: Achieving Universal Economic Progress Through Digital Infrastructure." During the speech, he shared Uganda's experiences and determination in building a unified cloud and network infrastructure.

Infrastructure challenges

Uganda faces a key challenge in last-mile coverage, as some remote areas lack access to optical networks. This hinders the government's ability to extend digital services to these regions. Currently, it covers only around 100 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). 

Uganda also faces challenges in reliably supporting critical government services. Many services, such as education, ministries, healthcare, banking, utilities, policing, and the judiciary, are carried on a single network, leading to bandwidth encroachment and undermining service reliability.

The Ministry of ICT & NG has connected the last-mile Main Distribution Area (MDA) sites through Huawei NE routers. The devices support both wired and wireless connections, eliminating the need for hop-by-hop configuration via SRv6 deployment. Operations can be completed on the Network Management System within 1 minute. 

By 2025, Uganda will cover 600 MDAs, with plans to expand to 20,000 MDAs in the future. In addition, MyUG sites are expected to surpass 300.

The Ministry of ICT & NG has built a unified backbone network to serve the government, education, healthcare, and Internet service provider (ISP) sectors. It leverages slicing technology to ensure the security of critical services, including government ministries, banking, and the judiciary.

By 2040, Uganda will build shared infrastructure leveraging cloud computing capabilities, a unified national network, and green energy to achieve inclusive connectivity. By establishing platforms such as UGHUB (an e-learning platform), educational management information systems, and a digital addressing platform, Uganda aims to provide 95% of government services online. 

Furthermore, through e-government services, technical services, a personal data protection office, and legal and regulatory services, Uganda will develop shared applications to enable 90% of its citizens to access e-services online. Huawei assists Uganda in achieving this vision.

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The Huawei TECH4ALL DigiTruck has provided free training in digital skills for nearly 6,000 Ugandans.

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Uganda's vision is to transform Uganda into a modern and prosperous country within 30 years. This requires Uganda to continuously build robust, ultra-high-speed, pervasive, intelligent, and trusted ICT infrastructure all over the country in line with evolving technologies.

Uganda will shift its focus to innovation as the engine of economic growth and a key driver of trade competitiveness.

The Ministry of ICT & NG was established in June 2006 with a mandate to provide strategic and technical leadership, ensure overall coordination, and offer support and advocacy across all aspects of policy, legislation, regulation, and strategy related to the national ICT infrastructure sector.