Information Technology Enabled Services: The SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

x Computer-related course studies now

compulsory in A-level curriculum for all schools:

͸ Increasing penetration of telecommunications and Internet services

͸ A liberalized competitive telecommunications regime

ITES specific

x Competitive labour costs differential to

developed countries’ companies

x A large youthful working pool with good

English skills

x ITES–BPO sector identified as a focus area in

the National Development Plan and Vision 2040

x Cyber laws and investment incentive

guidelines to promote ITES–BPO investors have been promulgated

x Limited Internet coverage: there is no

connectivity in some areas because infrastructure is still lacking

x Limited power supply and distribution: ITES

and BPO cannot be effectively conducted in rural areas without power supply

x Affordability of ITES and BPO services still an issue

x The combination of VAT and excise tax

imposes a high cost on communications usage

ITES specific

x High cost and shortage of high quality

buildings to host BPO business.

x Shortage of high-speed connectivity through

fibre optics which limits available bandwidth and results in comparatively high prices; Uganda’s fixed-line infrastructure is also relatively undeveloped

x Uganda is neither a signatory to the

Information Technology Agreement nor made WTO commitments on computer and related services

x Lack of adequate laws relating to data

protection, privacy and security

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

x There is a national IT regulator – NITA-U

x Five artisan parks have been approved to be

built in the next five years to facilitate the growth of the artisan industry

x Government is a strong ITES stakeholder and

a big potential client, for example, through call centres, e-tax assessment and payment, car registration. There is a government directive for all ministries, departments and agencies to establish IT units

x Digital migration

ITES–BPO specific

x Uganda can leverage its relatively stable

political environment to establish itself as a regional hub for offshoring services and as a subcontracting hub for more established destinations

x India is the largest BPO market among the

emerging economies with years of experience; Uganda’s ties with India can be leveraged to attract established Indian ITES and BPO brands

x Makerere University – one of the oldest and

largest in Africa – has ICT programmes which can be leveraged for training and linkages

x Slow development of infrastructure

x Limited usage of ICT facilities and

programmes

x Limited power supply

x Rapid technology growth all over the world

ITE–BPO specific

x Lack of participation at premier ITES–BPO

business linkage events may not create visibility for “brand Uganda”

x Proactive investment promotion of the ITES–

BPO industry by competing regional destinations, such as Kenya’s Khonza City and Rwanda

x Currently there is a lack of synergy between

the key stakeholders in the industry

x Uganda is landlocked and therefore reliant on

connections through other countries for international high-speed Internet connectivity x There is a risk that the new trend of inshoring

as a counter force to offshoring in developed countries, particularly in North America, could intensify; this could lead to restrictions that impede the growth of the global ITES market

x Uganda’s high cost of Internet usage and

with industry

x Plans to expand the fibre-optic submarine

cable and other fibre-optic initiatives and domestic backbone to be developed over the next few years should mitigate current bandwidth and connectivity constraints

G. Conclusion

The analysis reveals Uganda’s fundamental ITES–BPO issues as being a deep and wide digital divide, where despite the advantages both for job creation and poverty alleviation, ITES–BPO services are the preserve of urban areas to the exclusion of rural areas where the bulk of Uganda’s population resides. This situation is made worse by a narrow definition of universal access, which presently excludes the GSM mobile technologies whose proliferation and comparative cost present the biggest opportunity of achieving universal access for the excluded. Redefining universal access and proactively working to bridge the digital divide may be the best approach for Uganda to fully exploit the ITES–BPO possibilities.

The analysis further identifies a lack of synergy between the public and private sectors. Whereas there is a lot of emphasis on ICT, e-government and other governmental processes, this is not the case on the private sector side. However, ITES–BPO are fundamentally driven by the private sector in terms of innovation and mobile money is the best testimony to what could happen when an appropriate environment is provided for the private sector to thrive. The emphasis the Government is putting on its processes needs to be mirrored by the private sector, especially by the SMEs, for this to be achieved. In this respect, whereas prioritizing the national fibre-optic backbone infrastructure is important, it is equally important to prioritize the last mile connectivity, since at the last mile that innovation and utilization of the infrastructure takes place. The failure to address the last-mile problem reduces the country’s high speed infrastructure to a white elephant if the private players are not enabled to access it.

ITES–BPO efforts by Uganda ought to take into consideration the regional EAC context in which the country finds itself. Uganda may not be able to attract ITES outsourcing business without putting in place a robust world-class data-protection legal regime to ensure the integrity and safety of personal data and other intellectual property-rights assets of clients from developed countries, these clients attaching great importance to such issues. Given the priority attached to these concerns by other EAC countries, particularly Kenya and Rwanda, Uganda may miss out on its biggest ITES–BPO opportunity. Kenya and Rwanda seem to have better synergy between their public and private sectors with respect to ITES, with better legal frameworks and more price-competitive regimes with respect to high-speed connectivity. Full implementation of EAC liberalization commitments for computer-related services, in addition to signing other international and multilateral agreements, need to be prioritized. These commitments should allow, to the extent possible, for policy space to support Uganda’s indigenous SMEs and rural communities, so that these may take advantage of the ITES possibilities, rather than merely opening up the country to international brands.

VIII. SERVICES AUXILLARY TO ALL MODES OF TRANSPORT

A. Introduction

Whereas part one of this report, focuses extensively on transport and logistics, this section focuses specifically on transporters, freight forwarders, shippers and shipping lines, storage and warehousing, inland container depots (ICDs) and ICD operators, cargo handlers and clearing agents.

Services auxiliary to all modes of transport deal with the export and import of goods and consignments, loading, shipping and forwarding of goods. The services involve collecting shipping consignments along with their relevant documents, processing and handling them on behalf of the shippers, consignees and the customs authorities up to their warehouse destination or as the instructions may specify.

Players in this business are usually conversant with the rules (including rules of origin), regulations, procedures and “incoterms” (international commercial terms) of international clearing and forwarding.

Clearing and forwarding firms are intermediaries between customs, importers and exporters. They carry out customs documentation and on behalf of importers and exporters and lodge customs entries. They advise clients on customs requirements, laws, regulations and procedures.

Through their various industry associations particularly, UFFA and UCIFA, clearing and forwarding firms update clients on changes that occur from time to time with regard to customs requirements, laws, regulations and procedures. This is especially true of clearing agents who facilitate import and export operations in the most efficient and cost effective manner for their clientele. The players in this sector also give advice on the most appropriate mode of transport and the transportation facilities.

There are over 500 licensed industry players, including 364 licensed clearing and forwarding agents who are members of the UCIFA, and over 200 companies affiliated to the UFFA.

B. Trend Analysis

Sectoral context for services auxiliary to transport

Being landlocked, Uganda is disadvantaged with respect to transport and trade facilitation. Studies have shown that the distance to a seaport affects a geographical area’s economic growth performance adversely, with the effect being compounded if the country is landlocked (Gallup et al., 1998; MacKellar et al., 2000). Landlocked countries have significantly higher transport costs because of greater distances to a seaport and the need to cross national borders.

Transaction costs of crossing borders are generally high, and the existence of a border often also imposes further infrastructure costs if transport corridors on either side of it are not well coordinated (Hausmann, 2001; Raballand, 2003).The result is a lower volume of trade flows for landlocked countries compared to those not similarly handicapped, which has negative effects on economic growth. Not only does it have to incur additional costs arising from a longer distance to the sea ports of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, Uganda also needs to bear costs arising from transport and trade facilitation issues in its littoral neighbours – Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania, through which Uganda transits to access the sea – which are beyond Uganda’s control.

A diagnostic trade-integration study trade-facilitation analysis conducted in 2006 revealed that trade- facilitation issues outside Uganda’s control far outweigh those within its control.200 _{Uganda’s freight}

transport rates201 _{are high even among landlocked countries. For a select group of sub-Saharan African}

countries, Ethiopia was the only one with a higher freight transport rate than Uganda during the period 1999–2003. Of the trade facilitation issues outside Uganda, the most important one is congestion at the port of Mombasa, which handles 95 per cent of Uganda’s external trade traffic. Customs bonds add a substantial 4 per cent to the costs of export and import commodities transiting through Kenya.

The poor performance of rail transport in the region necessitates intensive use of higher-cost road services, the rates of which exceed those of rail by 38–56 per cent (International Finance Corporation and CANARAIL, 2004; Raman, 2006).

There are also several trade-facilitation issues within Uganda. First is the increasing congestion around and in Kampala. Kampala is the transport hub for most of Uganda’s exports and imports and congestion and traffic jams are increasingly becoming a constraint to trade expansion. Second, the high cost of road transport due to high tariffs on freight vehicles (raised from 7 per cent to 25 per cent with the introduction of the common external tariff), and slow refund of VAT to freight companies. There is a need to expand air freight infrastructure and facilities. Third, the anti-competitive behaviour of Rift Valley Railways, the railway concessionaire of the Uganda–Kenya railways on the Northern Corridor, acts as a drag on trade.202

200 _{Integrated Framework for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries (2006).}

201 _{Freight transport rate is given by (freight credit + freight debit + other transportation services credit + other transportation}

services debit + insurance credit + insurance debit) / (merchandise exports + merchandise imports), using IMF balance of payments statistics.

202 _{The Northern Corridor refers to the road, rail (including rail ferry) and pipeline transport services link between the hinterland}

countries and the Port of Mombasa in Kenya. The Central Corridor comprises similar services, other than pipeline, from the port of Dar es Salaam in the United Republic of Tanzania to the hinterlands.

In addition to the railway services on the Northern Corridor, Rift Valley Railways was granted concession of the provision of all the ports, goods sheds and ICDs previously provided by Uganda Railways Corporation on the Ugandan side of the Northern Corridor and the Central Corridor.

Finally, rural roads classified as “community roads” have emerged as a road-transport equivalent of the so-called “last-mile connectivity”, being poorly maintained with no direct government funding and outside the scope of local government road maintenance, which is limited to roads connecting sub-county headquarters. This approach to road maintenance is oblivious to the fact that agricultural production takes place at smallholder farms which are outside the government-supported road network in the belief that the most critical part of the network should be the responsibility of poor communities, hence the name “community roads”.

Several of these trade-facilitation issues need to be addressed in conjunction with other partner States of the EAC. The first and most critical are port delays, including the use of electronic data interchange of transit-related information and improved cargo tracking (the global positioning satellite). Second is effectively utilizing the joint granting of concessions to the Kenya and Uganda railways to provide competitive pressures on road transport services and on the transportation of petroleum products. Third, is the reviewing of the common external tariff on heavy freight vehicle imports taking into account fiscal implications. Fourth is the reduction or removal of the requirement for customs bonds, particularly when major clearing and forwarding firms are involved. Given the many trade-facilitation issues that are beyond Uganda’s control, the country must address as a priority the issues within its control: expediting the full implementation of the Transport Master Plan for the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area; investing in freight infrastructure and facilities at Entebbe Airport; accelerating the rural road connectivity programme; ensuring the independence of the proposed Multi-Sector Transport Regulatory Authority to control the potential anti-competitive behaviour indicated above.

The proposals to develop new port facilities at the dry container depot in the Namanve Industrial Park and the planned new Bukasa inland port on the shores of Lake Victoria, as well as the inter-modal transport infrastructure being developed on the Central Corridor on the Tanga–Bukoba route in the United Republic of Tanzania, if implemented, will tremendously mitigate Uganda's current high transaction costs along its transit corridors, especially through the United Republic of Tanzania. Bonded warehouses and ICDs have limited capacity to meet Uganda’s ambitious plans of becoming a regional distribution hub.