Seeking a Better Connection: Mobile Telecommunications Network and Social Responsibility in Uganda

Abstract

Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) is a global cellular provider headquartered in South Africa and owned almost completely by corporate investors outside Uganda. Its subsidiary MTN Uganda provides both mobile and fixed telephone services, and data and fax communications. The company prides itself on its technological innovation, dynamism and standards of excellence. Its goal is to be the leading telecommunications provider in Uganda by offering an affordable service to clients through a convergence of cellular, internet and satellite technology. It advertises that it offers a ‘better connection’, and that better connection is evident in several respects. MTN’s strategy of making telephone services widely available to all, especially women, has significantly expanded and enhanced the quality and coverage of telecommunications in Uganda. MTN employs more than three hundred Ugandans directly, and several thousand indirectly, enabling them to improve their job skills. Their families and other social units have increased their incomes. MTN’s investment has contributed significantly to the tax base of Uganda, which is one of the smallest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its social interventions as a responsible corporate citizen have begun to improve the humanitarian conditions of some of the most disadvantaged sections of society. Overall, MTN Uganda has had an outstanding impact on Uganda’s economy considering that it only commenced its operations in late 1998.