The Electronic Transactions Act No. 8 of 2011 establishes a safe harbour regime for intermediaries for copyright infringements. According to Section 29 of Act No. 8 of 2011, a service provider is not subject to civil or criminal liability with respect to third-party material, which is in the form of electronic records to which it merely provides access. This is provided that the intermediary is not directly involved in the making, publication, dissemination, or distribution of the material or a statement made in the material or the infringement of any rights subsisting in or in relation to the material. In addition, pursuant to Art. 30 of the Act, service providers are not liable for infringement for referring or linking to a “data message or infringing activity” if the service provider is unaware of the infringement, does not receive financial benefit from the infringement, and “removes or disables access to the reference or link to the data message or activity within a reasonable time after being informed that the data message or the activity relating to the data message infringes the rights of the user.”

The Electronic Transactions Act No. 8 of 2011 establishes a safe harbour regime for intermediaries beyond copyright infringements. According to Section 29 of Act No. 8 of 2011, a service provider is not subject to civil or criminal liability with respect to third-party material, which is in the form of electronic records to which it merely provides access. This is provided that the intermediary is not directly involved in the making, publication, dissemination, or distribution of the material or a statement made in the material or the infringement of any rights subsisting in or in relation to the material. In addition, pursuant to Art. 30 of the Act, service providers are not liable for infringement for referring or linking to a “data message or infringing activity” if the service provider is unaware of the infringement, does not receive financial benefit from the infringement, and “removes or disables access to the reference or link to the data message or activity within a reasonable time after being informed that the data message or the activity relating to the data message infringes the rights of the user.”

Section 9 of the Regulation of Interception of Communications Act obliges all telecommunication service providers to ensure that, before they enter into a contract with any person for the provision of telecommunication services, such a person is duly registered. Every person who purchases a SIM card for telecommunications or internet services is required to register their personal details.

It is reported that Uganda does not mandate functional separation for operators with significant market power (SMP) in the telecom market. However, there is an obligation of accounting separation. Under Section 14 of the 2019 Regulations, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) can require telecommunications operators to prepare and submit separate accounts for each of their activities. These accounts must be structured as if each activity were conducted by a legally independent entity.

Art. 38 of the Uganda Communications Act of 2013 states that, before granting a licence, the Commission shall take into account several criteria, including whether the grant of the licence is in the public interest. Section 93(3)(e) of the Uganda Communications (Licensing) Regulations further stipulates that, in assessing the merits of an application for a telecommunications licence, the regulator may take into account the benefits the applicant is likely to contribute to the industry, the users, and the Ugandan economy as a whole. These benefits may include investment, improvements in communications infrastructure, and advancements in capacity, capability, and connectivity.
Moreover, it has been reported that the implementation of the revised telecommunications licensing framework by the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has led to challenges for telecom operators. The 2019 framework requires applicants to pay separate fees for operating in different regions, in addition to the mandatory application fees and a 2% levy on gross annual earnings. Some have criticized the updated fees, arguing that they add to the already significant burden of existing levies and taxes on the sector.

Under Section 9 of the Uganda Communications (Licensing) Regulations No. 95 of 2019, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) may, when considering an application for a national telecommunications operator's licence, require the applicant to offer a prescribed percentage of its shares to the public, as determined by the Commission. The licence description for the National Telecom Operator (NTO) stipulates that the licensee must list a minimum of 20% of its shares on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) within two years of the licence’s issuance. This requirement is reportedly intended to promote local ownership of telecommunications services. In December 2021, MTN Uganda—the country’s largest telecommunications provider—listed 13% of its shares on the USE. Similarly, in December 2023, Airtel Uganda, the second-largest telecommunications company, listed 11% of its shares, excluding its mobile money subsidiary, on the USE.
In addition, Section 9 of the Licensing Regulations 2019 authorises the Commission to issue guidelines defining the scope of a licence, including the requirement for nationwide coverage. The NTO licence description specifies that this category of licence shall be granted to an operator that demonstrates both the financial and technical capacity to establish and operate a telecommunications network covering the entire geographical territory of Uganda. In March 2021, the UCC granted Lycamobile an NTO licence, making it the third operator to receive such authorisation, following MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda. Under the terms of the NTO licence, Lycamobile is mandated to expand its network coverage to at least 90% of Uganda’s territory within five years.

Uganda has appended the World Trade Organization (WTO) Telecom Reference Paper to its schedule of commitments.

The country’s telecommunications authority is the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). However, it has been reported that the entity’s decision‑making process is not fully independent from the government. Although Art. 8 of the Uganda Communications Act, 2013 mandates the UCC to exercise its functions independently and without influence from any person or authority, concerns have been raised regarding the lack of effective independence, particularly in relation to Art. 7, which requires the UCC to comply with policy guidelines issued by the Minister of Information when performing its functions.

In accordance with Art. 68 of the National Payment Systems Act, all electronic money issuers are obliged to establish and maintain their primary data centre in relation to payment system services in Uganda.

It is reported that the Central Bank of Uganda interprets the country's cybersecurity legislation as giving it the power to require financial institutions to relocate their data centres to Uganda in order to provide the government with access to customers' digital financial information. It is also reported that regulated financial institutions are currently implementing this policy.

Under Section 11 of the Trade Secrets Protection Act No. 2 of 2009, trade secrets may be required to be submitted to a government department, but the department must protect the information submitted to it from disclosure.

The Trade Secrets Protection Act No. 2 of 2009 provides a framework for effective protection of trade secrets.

According to Section 9 of the Uganda Communications Commission Guidelines on Communications Infrastructure Deployment and Sharing, all licensed operators are required to coordinate and/or share infrastructure with other duly authorised operators to support the deployment of components necessary for the development of high-speed and secure communications networks in Uganda. Operators must make available capacity on their infrastructure to other operators under fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory conditions.

The Government of Uganda currently holds a stake in two telecommunications companies: Uganda Telecommunications Corporation Limited (UTCL) and MTN Uganda.
Regarding UTCL, the company traces its roots to the former Uganda Telecom Ltd (UTL), which was partially privatised in the 1990s. The Government of Uganda retained a minority shareholding until 2017, when the private shareholders unilaterally withdrew from the financially distressed firm, leaving the state as the sole owner. In April 2021, the government incorporated UTCL as a fully state-owned enterprise. By November 2022, UTCL had acquired all of UTL’s assets, and UTL ceased to exist. In December 2023, the government signed an agreement with Rowad Capital Commercial (RCC), a UAE-based firm, granting RCC a 60% stake in UTCL while retaining 40% ownership, 25% held by the Ministry of Finance and 15% by the Ministry of ICT. However, the acquisition has not yet been finalised, and implementation remains pending.
Regarding MTN Uganda, the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), a government-mandated retirement fund, became a major investor following the company’s initial public offering in December 2021. NSSF acquired an 8.84% stake, becoming the largest local institutional investor. In May 2024, NSSF increased its shareholding through a secondary offering, raising its total stake to 11.7%.

Section 50 of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act provides that, subject to the economic and social policies of the Government and the international obligations of the Government, preference is given to domestically manufactured goods and Ugandan contractors and Ugandan consultants in order to promote their development, by giving them a competitive advantage when competing for public procurement contracts, with foreign manufactured goods, foreign contractors or foreign consultants. Moreover, Section 59A(3) states that in the procurement of goods, works, or services through open tendering, a margin of preference of up to 15% for goods and up to 7% for works or services applies.