Connecting Uganda requires more than expanding networks in commercially attractive urban areas.
Some communities are harder or more expensive to serve, while other Ugandans face barriers including the cost of devices, limited digital skills and accessibility challenges.
The Uganda Communications Universal Service and Access Fund, UCUSAF, exists to help address those gaps.
Administered within the Uganda Communications Commission, the Fund is currently implementing its fourth strategic cycle under the objective of achieving “Digital Inclusivity through sustainable interventions and impactful collaborations.”
From Connectivity to Digital Inclusion
UCUSAF’s current strategy is organised around four themes:
Access, Adoption and Usage, Value Creation and Cooperation.
Those themes translate into five strategic objectives covering increased broadband access, greater use of digital devices and services, promotion of ICT applications and services, knowledge for informed decision making and stronger multisector collaboration.
This reflects an important evolution in addressing the digital divide.
Building infrastructure remains necessary, but a network passing through a community does not automatically mean everyone in that community can benefit from the internet.
People also need devices, relevant skills, affordable services and applications that create tangible value.
Where UCUSAF Invests
The Fund currently supports programmes covering:
- ICT in education
- ICT for agriculture
- Digital skilling
- Research support
- Access infrastructure
- Analogue to digital migration
- Devices for underserved communities
UCUSAF has also supported targeted initiatives for persons with disabilities.
A UCC commissioned assessment published in February 2026 found that its ICT for Persons with Disabilities programme had expanded digital inclusion and delivered socioeconomic benefits, while identifying areas where further intervention was required.
Industry Contributions Support Universal Access
Licensed communications operators contribute to the Fund as part of Uganda’s universal service framework.
In June 2026, for example, MTN Uganda handed UGX 54.27 billion to UCC as its statutory UCUSAF contribution.
UCC said the resources support programmes including communications infrastructure, ICT integration in education and agriculture, digital inclusion for persons with disabilities, research and innovation, digital skills and access to smart devices for marginalised communities.
The objective is to ensure that Uganda’s digital transformation does not leave communities behind simply because connecting them is less commercially attractive or because households cannot independently overcome barriers to adoption.
UCUSAF therefore sits at the intersection of infrastructure and inclusion.
Its long term success will ultimately be measured not only by how many networks reach underserved communities, but by whether people in those communities can actually use digital technologies to learn, work, access services and participate in Uganda’s economy.
