Ericsson Wins Ugandan Upgrade Contract

MTN Uganda says that it has signed a multi million dollar agreement with Ericsson to undertake major upgrades on its network. The deal worth US$52 million is aimed at increasing capacity on the network.

MTN Chief Executive Officer, Noel Meier explained that there was an unprecedented increase in number of customers on the network last year. "We anticipated an increase on the subscriber base and planned for it based on growth trends from the previous years, however the capacity increase didn't match the 60% increase in the number of customers."

MTN Chief Technical Officer, Francis Kazinduki, explained that MTN is undertaking various upgrades simultaneously. "We are doing various upgrades all aimed at increasing capacity on the radio and core network."

Kazinduki added that the SMS platform has been upgraded and will now be able to accommodate much more traffic compared to the current installed capacity. "We're particularly excited by this SMS upgrade as it will allow us to also introduce some new SMS services."

The upgrades which have already started are expected to be concluded by June 2007. In many instances, customers will have started realizing improved services as the upgrade progresses."

Posted to the site on 9th April 2007