MENGO – Airtel Uganda has switched on first 5G site at Bulange in Mengo.
The site was activated on Sunday, July 30 at a press briefing presided over by Owek. Robert Waggwa Nsibirwa, 2nd Deputy Katikiro of Buganda, who represented The Katikkiro, Charles Peter Mayiga.
Owek. Nsibirwa recognized Airtel’s investments in Buganda and the country as a whole which investment has contributed to the country’s socio-economic growth.
“Today we are pleased to witness the key milestone of powering Mengo on Airtel’s 5G network which showcases Airtel’s innovative approach of creating solutions through technologies that influence socio-economic growth of our region and the entire country,” Owek. Nsibirwa said.
He noted that the kingdom has collaborated with Airtel Uganda for the last 10 years through which it has introduced services like the Airtel K2 network.
The deployment of 5G is timely because it will allow the kingdom’s youth to engage in productive initiatives using the reliable internet so that they can positively impact their lives and their communities by leveraging the power of technology, he said.
5G is the 5th generation mobile network that enables a new kind of network that is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together including machines, objects, and devices at very high speeds. It delivers higher multi-Gbps peak data speeds, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability, and a more uniform user experience to more users.
Airtel Uganda secured the 5G spectrum to start its deployment across the city.
Uganda Communications Commission, Executive Director, Eng. Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo, appreciated Airtel Uganda for rolling out 5G, as digital inclusion is among the strategy engrained in the national vision 2040 that looks at ICT as a platform for improving the livelihoods of the people.
She said 5G will guarantee that Ugandans have fast speeds which will support the transformation our various sectors like agriculture which is the key economic activity, not forgetting education, and health among other sectors.
Besides Mengo, Airtel Uganda Managing Director, Manoj Murali said the telecom firm will power other 2500 sites on a site-by-site basis and a list of rollout plans will be issued on Airtel’s Website and social media platforms.
The 5G Network will be accessed by customers with 5 G-compatible devices, he said.
“The Central Business District which hosts Mengo is characterized by high socio-economic activity, hence there is a continuous need to improve connectivity so that our people can access improved telecommunication services via Airtel’s 5G Network, to connect families and friends to their loved ones, as well as businesses to their existing customers or new prospects,” Mr. Murali explained.
The 5G Network can support up to 1 million connected devices per square kilometre compared to 4G which can only support up to 100,000 connected devices in a similar area. This makes 5G the suitable network over which remote teams can collaborate to undertake tasks like surgery, shared online school classes, and farmers can share live video farming tips, engineering tasks over video and stream gaming, and other entertainment experiences.
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