It is the world's biggest machine strung together by complex networks, mobile phones and internet-linked computers to enable people communicate, share thoughts and do business with anyone, regardless of where they might be.
Don't get confused, I am talking about the telecommunications industry.
Last year, the telecom sector was swept up in rapid innovation more than any other year in history due to stiff competition as players sought for market recognition.
You could not have imagined that the intense jockeying for market share was happening in a sector that was not so many years ago monopolised by Celtel Uganda, which offered an elitist service that was only affordable by the rich.
The rapid twist in the once virgin market saw an influx of players like MTN, Uganda telecom, Warid telecom, Orange telecom, Smile and I telecom, joining one after another.
Scramble for market share then came into play; players knew that the only way to survive and thrive in the local market was by lowering their prices, in the industry's price war that has reached the highest mark in history.
Competition in who charges the lowest rate was sparked off when Orange telecom reduced its monthly fee of mobile internet connectivity for basic internet users to Shs49,000 for a capacity of 1 Giga byte in January Warid charged a monthly fee of Shs85,000 while MTN and Zain charged Shs90, 000 each, for the same offer.
A few months later, Zain (now Airtel) and Uganda Telecom joined the wagon of lowering the cost of internet in April to fit in the cutthroat market.
Zain reduced the cost for its mobile internet modem from Shs180,000 to Shs53,000, making it the cheapest on the market compared to Orange and Warid telecom's devices that were priced at Shs150,000 each and MTN's, at Shs180,000.
Zain further introduced low-cost internet packages ranging from Shs200 to Shs7,000 depending on one's usage, in addition to cheaper modems.
Uganda Telecom lowered its monthly internet access charge to Shs80,000 from a high of Shs130,000.
Two months later and probably having started to feel the blow of Zain and Uganda Telecom internet reductions, Warid and MTN once again slashed their prices.
Warid lowered the price of its mobile internet modem to Shs75,000 from Shs150,000 in June and also cut its monthly internet charge for unlimited internet to Shs60,000 from Shs85,000.
Its daily unlimited mobile internet service reduced to Shs4,000 from Shs5,000 but its modem price remained at Shs150,000.
MTN responded by introducing fixed line handsets with low cost internet bundles ranging between Shs9,500 and Shs28,500 for between 50 megabytes and 180 megabytes.
Then, MTN and Orange once again set the stage for a fresh battle in the country's mobile internet market in August by offering 500 mega bytes of data for Shs25,000 a month. Orange further offered 1 Giga Byte of data for Shs45, 000 per month.
Orange's cut followed MTN's announcement of monthly internet charges of aslow as those it offered.
The excitement in lowering prices for internet connections was largely a result of the landing of low cost and high speed internet cables including The East African Marine System and Seacom in East Africa in mid 2009.
Before the fibre optic cables, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) relied on expensive internet capacity delivered via satellites, whose transmission is slower compared to that of fibre optic cables.
The landing of fibre optic cables meant that internet service providers had access to more affordable internet bandwidth off submarine cables and therefore had to pass on the benefits to their customers.
Some telecoms like MTN were forced into selling both internet services and laptops, routers and mobile phones to customers at more competitive rates.
Uganda’s internet penetration is still low with only three million internet users out of a population of 32 million, according to figures from the Uganda Communications 2009 report.?The price scuffle in the internet segment was just a starter of the real battle in the voice segment, which also happens to be the industry’s biggest revenue generator in the industry.?The reduction of the inter-connection fees by the Uganda Communications Commission from Shs181 to Shs131 in August triggered off price competition in voice.
Warid Telecom pulled the trigger in the local telecoms price war when it unveiled a rate of Shs5 per second for calls made on its network and to those on other networks.
The absence of preferential calling rates within networks which facilitated ring-fencing of customers within particular networks had forced many to have several sim cards and handsets which they use to call within the network.
Prior to fixing a uniform inter-connection fee and the desire for telecoms to ‘own’ customers and get them to make more calls within the networks had forced them to cut the price of calls within networks and the introduction of a single-fee charge that allows ‘free’ calls for up to 24 hours within the network.?In seeking to charge the same rate for on-network and off-network calls, therefore, Warid was seeking to throw another log onto the revolutionary bonfire that has been raging in the industry.
Several hours after Warid fired its first bullet in the price war, other players, Zain and MTN, remained quiet as they privately watched the market and getting concerned by the hour as the networks registered more calls from Warid.
Calls from Warid to other networks had suddenly become cheaper than calls within other networks.
Utl followed the bandwagon by announcing a rate of Shs5 per second for off-network calls and Shs4 per second for on-network calls on September 28.
MTN then issued a press release announcing a promotion of Shs6 per second for off-network and falling to Shs3 per second for on-network based on usage.
Zain, which had been quietly watching the industry, also announced in the newspapers late in the day a price of Shs3 per second for on- and off-network calls. It also threw in three free daily on-network texts.
Orange also followed by announcing a Shs3 per second call rate, across all networks, to its customers. That made Shs3 the cheapest rate for most service providers both for in and off-network.
As if price could not be cut further yet companies still sought to protect their territories and gain more customers which they also anticipated result into increased revenues, the struggle then shifted to innovative products like smaller airtime scratch cards.
On November 18, Zain launched its Shs200 airtime scratch card, as the smallest denomination on the market before trickling in other players into doing the same.
Reluctant to admit that it was competition, then company managing director Yesse Oenga said research had proved that affordability was a key factor in increasing access and usage of mobile telecommunications in the country, desiring an urgent need to bring down communication barriers through innovations that meet customer needs.
Warid also responded a few days later by introducing a Shs100 scratch card.
Telecoms were also forced to diversify revenue streams through value-added services like short messages, data and mobile applications such as mobile banking and money transfer.
The year 2010 also saw Zain Uganda rebranding to Bharti Airtel following the acquisition of its African operations in 16 countries including Uganda at about $10.9 billion mid this year.
A week after rebranding, changes started sweeping through the company with Mr Somasekhar Vellapakkam Ganapathy named managing director, taking over from Mr Oenga who served in the same position for about five years.
Mr Oenga had on several occasions refuted speculations, basing on the Warid experience, that there would be change in management.
When Warid sold 51 per cent stake to Essar, an Indian telecom company, the then company chief executive officer Zulqarnain Javaid was replaced by Mr Sunil Colaso who also left after a few weeks and was replaced by Mr Madhur Taneja as chief executive.
Competition is getting stiffer day by day with companies innovating products that can lure in more customers.?In mid December, UTL localised a popular UK show, ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?, slated to start in January 2011 in which Ugandans will win millions a top prize of Shs25 million to be given out each week.
When asked about 2011 projections in the telecommunications industry, MTN’s chief marketing officer Isaac Nsereko said prices have been coming down for the past 12 years and they are expected to continue coming down.?He said reductions were largely driven by efficiency, newer communication technologies that are deployed by the telecoms, competition from other market players and growth in subscription numbers.
“When you have more customers, you are able to provide affordable services,” he said.