Output-based aid in Uganda: Bringing Communication Services to Rural Areas

In 1999, Uganda had achieved a national teledensity (fixed and mobile) of about one telephone per 100 inhabitants, slightly above the average for Sub- Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa). But with most phone lines concentrated in the Kampala area, rural teledensity was far lower. Indeed, only 380 of the 920 subcounties in Uganda were expected to have any kind of telephone service by 2001. Internet services, still in their infancy, also were limited to Kampala. In the planning stages at around that time, a new World Bank project was designed in part to address this situation. The Energy for Rural Transformation Project was aimed at creating an environment conducive to commercially oriented, sustainable delivery of both renewable energy and information and communication technology (ICT) services in rural areas.