Uganda’s communications sector kicked off 2026 with a mixed bag — surging mobile subscriptions and a viral TikTok wave on one hand, and declining internet traffic and falling revenue on the other, according to the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) Q1 2026 Market Performance Report (January–March 2026).
Here are the numbers that matter.
61.6 Million SIMs, but Only 47.5 Million Are Active
Uganda now has 61.6 million registered SIM cards — more than one per person in a country of roughly 50 million people. But when you strip out inactive lines, only 47.5 million subscriptions were active on a 90-day basis. That gap tells a familiar East African story: many Ugandans hold multiple SIMs.
Fixed-line subscriptions stood at a modest 375,000, a reminder that landlines remain largely irrelevant outside corporate and government settings.
TikTok Is Uganda’s Biggest Social Platform
As of March 2026, TikTok leads Uganda’s social media landscape with 10.8 million users, ahead of WhatsApp (9.9 million) and YouTube (6.5 million). Snapchat held 2.8 million users, Instagram 1.4 million, while X (formerly Twitter) had just 700,000 and Netflix a slim 100,000 subscribers.
For campus marketers and student content creators, the message is clear: TikTok and WhatsApp are where Ugandan audiences actually are.
Internet Traffic Fell — And Users Are Consuming Less Data
One of the more surprising findings: internet data downloaded dropped from 332.4 million GBs in Q4 2025 to 256.8 million GBs in Q1 2026 — a significant quarter-on-quarter decline. The report links this partly to the temporary internet restriction imposed around the January 2026 General Elections, which UCC officially lifted on 18th January 2026.
The average mobile internet user also consumed less data — 3.0 GB per month, down from 5.3 GB in Q4 2025. Analysts point to the post-election restoration period and possible shifts in usage behaviour.
Mobile Money Is Booming — Over 2.37 Billion Transactions
Mobile money remains a cornerstone of Uganda’s digital economy. The sector recorded 2.37 billion transactions in Q1 2026, with 36.7 million active mobile money subscriptions. The average peer-to-peer transaction value rose slightly to UGX 100,690, up from UGX 100,296 the previous quarter.
UCC also flagged that 58.7 million SIMs are registered for mobile money (according to Bank of Uganda data), suggesting broad coverage even if active usage is lower.
Gross telecom revenue slipped to UGX 1.60 trillion in Q1 2026, down from UGX 1.66 trillion in Q4 2025 and significantly below the UGX 1.78 trillion recorded in June 2025. The decline reflects lower data traffic volumes and what industry observers call a “post-peak” correction after strong 2025 numbers.
Postal and courier revenue similarly fell to UGX 12.7 billion, from UGX 14.5 billion in December 2025.
Uganda now has 20.3 million smartphones in use, but feature phones (24.7 million) and basic phones (13.3 million) still account for the majority of devices. This has direct implications for digital services — a large share of Ugandan internet users are accessing the web on basic or feature phones, not high-end smartphones.
Uganda’s fiber optic network grew to 71,740 kilometres, up from 62,941 km in Q4 2025 — a jump of nearly 9,000 km in one quarter. Combined with 5,578 telecom towers now operational across the country, the infrastructure buildout continues at pace under the Connected Uganda 2030 vision.
Uganda’s cinema sector is quietly expanding. Ticket sales climbed month-on-month across Q1 2026, with 7,600 tickets sold in March alone — representing 37% of the quarter’s total. The most popular film was Dhurandhar (6.8% of screenings), followed by Hoppers (6.4%) and Crime 101 (6.0%). Evening slots were most popular, accounting for 50% of attendance
On the global stage, Uganda scored a double victory at the 11th Pan African Postal Union (PAPU) Plenipotentiary Conference held in Kampala in March 2026. Uganda assumed the Chairmanship of the PAPU for the 2026–2030 cycle, while Ms. Jessica Hope Ssengooba was re-elected as PAPU Assistant Secretary General with 63.6% of the vote, defeating Senegal’s candidate.
Uganda’s communications sector enters 2026 with strong structural foundations — more towers, more fiber, and more mobile money users than ever before. But the election-period internet interruption left a visible dent in data usage and revenue figures for Q1. The sector’s recovery trajectory in Q2 will be closely watched.
Source: UCC Market Performance Report Q1 2026 (January – March 2026)
