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Africa

Uganda
 
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Payphone on Lake Victoria in Uganda using GSM Technology and Solar Power. Photo sent in by Craig Wheeler, Remkor Technologies South Africa
1994- A row of international phones in Kampala, Uganda.
Photo by friend of Daniel Jones.
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There are 7 types of payphones in Uganda.  They are on nearly every corner in Kampala and many at the Entebbe Airport.  However, of the 800 UTL payphones in the nation only about 200 are Global269 enabled.  The enabled UTL payphones are bright yellow or bright blue in colour (see pictures). Each enabled payphone has been manually been set up for Global269 access. You must dial the international access code "000" followed by the 2698 number.  A few of the Blue and Yellow phones are connected to older analogue switches and will not support Global269 toll free.

Many of the payphones have been tested and a Global269 label has been affixed.  These phones display "Free Call" or similar message when 0002698 is dialled.  Use these with confidence.

Lightning strike is a recurring problem in the high plateaus of Uganda.  Payphones are often the victim so you may find a labelled payphone that is inoperative.  

MTN Uganda, a joint venture between MTN, Telia and local Ugandan partners, provides wireless payphone services in Uganda.   These payphones are not Global269 enabled.
Rolling out services across the land
MTN has installed over 2,200 public pay-phones in less than three years.

he explosive growth in telecommunication in Uganda is making a massive contribution to the country’s economy. New roads and bridges have been built to bring telecommunication equipment to remote areas, giving the poorest communities an invaluable link to the outside world.

Uganda, which once had the lowest teledensity rate on the continent, has all but reached the regional average in just five years. Although there are still fewer than two fixed lines per 100 people, the potential for growth is enormous.

The market really lifted off after MTN, a South African-based operator, won a license to provide services in both mobile and fixed-line telephony in 1998 — the state-owned Uganda Telecom was privatized in 2000, with a Swiss-German-Egyptian consortium taking a 51% share and the government retaining the rest.
History- The only Ugandan tokens I know are telephone tokens as issued by "Uganda Posts and Telecommunications Corporation". Here they are....

Uganda 5 Shillings Telephone Token
A Ugandan 5 Shillings Telephone Token - actual size 21mm diameter. (Image from Marco Fiumani).

Uganda 20 Shillings Telephone Token
A Ugandan 20 Shillings Telephone Token - actual size 23mm diameter. (Image from Marco Fiumani).

Uganda 50 Shillings Telephone Token
A Ugandan 50 Shillings Telephone Token - actual size 25mm diameter.

   As per the absence of an image credit for the 50 Shillings token, that piece is mine. I would have considered it lucky to come across just one piece - but I actually found 2 pieces on the same day, in the same tray of cheap loose coins/tokens, for sale at a local coin fair. I couldn't believe it.

  These three Ugandan tokens are to be found listed as Uganda 1, 2 and 3 in a book called "Catalog of Telephone and Telegraph Tokens", by H. A. Groenendijk as published January 1989 and re-printed occasionally since.

With special thanks to Mr Paul Baker http://www.wbcc.fsnet.co.uk/