Northern corridor partners review progress on jointly owned communications satellite

February 28, 2025 in Communications, Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Technology & Telecoms by Editor

 ICT and infrastructure docket holders from Northern Corridor member states, concluded a meeting in Juba, South Sudan this week, during which they reviewed progress towards the establishment of a jointly owned broadcasting satellite.

Convened under the ICT Infrastructure Development Cluster under Northern Corridor Integration Projects (NCIPs), the meeting that ran from February 24-25, 2025, received the report of the Technical Committee on the establishment of a Regional Owned and Operated Communication and Broadcasting Satellite.

Delegates agreed that common ownership and implementation of the project presented the least-cost opportunity to address current gaps in access to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) and last mile connectivity solutions in rural areas. The meeting heard that all existing regulatory frameworks of the Member States favored establishment of the proposed satellite, and have inbuilt flexibility to accommodate future scenarios.

“The meeting committed to finalize the roadmap for the establishment of satellite and eventual mobilization of funding for the feasibility study. The meeting also reviewed and assessed the progress on implementation framework of NCIPs, and explored collaborative approaches to address the underlying challenges,” says a media statement by Uganda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The project was initiated by President Yoweri Museveni during the 14^th NCIP heads of state summit in June 2015, in Entebbe. In attendance were his then Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta and Paul Kagame of Rwanda.

This week’s meeting in Juba was chaired by Dr. Aminah Zawedde, the Permanent Secretary at Uganda’s Ministry of ICT & National Guidance who also doubles as Chairperson of the ICT Infrastructure Development Cluster. In attendance also were Dr. Lado Wani Kenyi the, Undersecretary for Telecommunication and Postal Services, in South Sudan’s Ministry of Information Communication Technology and Postal Services (MICT&PS), and representatives from the Member States of Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda. 

The Northern Corridor is a transport corridor that links the landlocked countries of Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo to Kenya’s Maritime Port of Mombasa. The Northern corridor currently serves a population of about 120 million people including the southern reaches of Ethiopia and North Tanzania.

The ICT Infrastructure Development Cluster was introduced at the 3^rd NCIP Summit of Heads of State to facilitate fast-tracking the integration process. This Cluster is coordinated and chaired by Uganda under the Ministry of ICT & national Guidance. By the 14^th Summit, 21 Directives had been issued under the ICT Infrastructure Development Cluster, including the directive for partner states to finalise the concept note for the establishment and launch of a Regional Owned and Operated Communication and Broadcasting Satellite, and also to fast track the operational modalities for this Satellite that will provide high-quality, dependable broadband internet services and broadcasting capabilities.