At the tail of last month, two of MTN Group executives; Outgoing and Incoming Vice President for MTN Group’s Southern and Eastern Africa (SEA) regional markets Mr. Ebenezer Asante and Ms. Yolanda Cuba visited Uganda —as this would see Asante formally hand over MTN Uganda subsidiary to Cuba.
While on their visit to Uganda, they had the opportunity to meet with external stakeholders including; the Prime Minister of Uganda; Ruhakana Rugunda, Ag. Executive Director for UCC; Irene Kaggwa-Sewankambo, Minister of ICT; Hon. Judith Nabakooba, Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda; Michael Atingi-Ego, Commissioner General URA; John Musinguzi, and South Africa high commissioner among others. They discussed ways of collaborating with MTN to grow the sector and country at large.
On May 5th, the outgoing VP for MTN Group’s SEA regional markets, Asante handed over MTN Uganda subsidiary to Ms. Cuba, the incoming VP for MTN Group’s SEA regional markets and this was done through a symbolic gesture of the Uganda Flag. Asante welcomed Ms. Cuba to the new role which he [Asante] he served for 3 years, said earned him a great amount of knowledge and unforgettable experiences.
In his remarks, Asante said he has truly humbled to have served as VP for MTN Group’s SEA regional markets, and that the people and countries where MTN operates are all unique in their own ways. Adding that MTN is thankful that its customers continue to allow to be served by them.
While handing over MTN Uganda subsidiary to Ms. Cuba, Asante noted that if he were to write a book, MTN Uganda would deserve a good part in that book.
“When I think about MTN Uganda, it is not just a company that I will just walk though and walk out in three years. I share a deep passion with MTN Uganda and one day should I write a book MTN Uganda will deserve a good part in that book,” said Asante.
Concluding his remarks, Asante formally handover the subsidiary to Ms. Cuba and this was done through a symbolic gesture of the Uganda Flag.
Prior revealing her plans for Uganda, Ms. Cuba firstly said they would give better than they did yesterday —because it is in the doing and improving everyday that the telco becomes excellent. “Even though we are where we are today and happy about that, do not be satisfied because only people that are unsatisfied achieve excellence,” she said.
Ms. Cuba went on to briefly reveal some of her plans for Uganda among which she says the telco will prioritize investing in the network to ensure there is access to communication services countrywide.
“In the network perspective, considering the next five years and getting to the 90 percent coverage, we shall focus on growing our investments in the country,” she noted. In addition, Cuba asserted that she is going to focus on further roll out of 3G and 4G with at target of at least 90% geographical coverage in Uganda as per their license obligation.
She also revealed that the telco will also prioritize on increasing mobile and internet penetration through boosting access to handset devices. Ms. Cuba said mobile and internet penetration currently ranks low in Uganda compared to her regional counterparts. Thus, looking forward to boosting the penetration.
Aware of the youthful population in Uganda, Ms. Cuba said they will look at having vast opportunities. Through MTN’s open Application Program Interface (API) marketplace, the telco is going for a more open architectural feature that will offer a lot of space for innovation, which is predominantly a hub for the youth.
