In “How Datanet Provides Premium Internet to East Africa” and this post I wrote about the various factors working against affordable internet connectivity in East Africa. This morning I came across this post by Ryan Allis (Chief Executive Officer of iContact) where he mentions plans for T1 connectivity in Uganda by 2009.

We stayed with an investment banker who runs Daro Capital on Friday night in Kampala. He help a get together of a group of technology execs and professionals on Tuesday night, including a gentleman who is starting an SMS marketing service. I spoke to a number of people to get a sense of the ripeness for email marketing. Rough statistics, but it seems right now about 25pc of Ugandans have email addresses, though most check them via Internet Cafes. Broadband access is only available via Satellite at a cost of USD$1000 per month, so even the professional class and wealthy have only dial up or GPRS access. A T1 is being installed in Uganda in 2009 after which access will go substantially up.

Right now It looks like Sarah and I will be paying well over $400 per month for broadband internet access comparable to that of what we had in the west. Since I absolutely need it to work, and she needs it to launch her office, it will be a cost we just have to suck up. It’s good to know that some relief is on the horizon but if broadband is averaging between $400 and $1000 a month, I wonder what a T1 connection will cost?

About the Author: Jonathan Gosier (Founder) is an American-born software developer, writer and social entrepreneur. He currently lives in Kampala, Uganda where he is working on two fronts: to encourage western businesses and investors to engage African entrepreneurs and to encourage the adoption of computers, programming and use of the internet in the developing regions of Africa. He is a huge advocate for promoting the ways in which a semantic web will benefit emerging economies in the world.

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