Hits Telecom, Uganda's fourth telecoms operator, has made the first call on its network. "The network is very clear," said President Yoweri Museveni who made the maiden call to Information Minister Ham Mulira. Hits CEO Samir Naessany said the ceremony was to test the network, adding that a commercial launch will take place in the first quarter of 2008. "We will progressively increase our coverage in the country and the commercial launch will be announced very soon," he said. Naessany said the company intends to extend its network to cover at least 60 percent of Uganda's population before it starts its commercial operations. Hits, which is backed by shareholders in Abu Dhabi, has a licence which includes GSM, WiMAX and data transmission. Alcatel-Lucent is supplier for the initial GSM network. Naessany noted that high tariffs have kept Uganda behind countries like Kenya and Tanzania in telecommunications. "We only have a market penetration of 11 percent to 14 percent and if you make a comparison with the adjacent countries, we think there's a potential for more players." The test call comes around two months after Warid Telecom, the fifth telecom operator, conducted its first test calls. The new entrants bring total number of telecom firms to five including MTN Uganda, Celtel and Uganda Telecom. Market analysts have predicted that the entry of the new players would substantially lead to aggressive price competition among the companies, which will eventually lead to the reduction of telecommunication costs in Uganda.
