Data Centers in Uganda

Uganda – The Green Gateway for East African Connectivity

Uganda serves as a vital interconnection point for enterprises targeting the Great Lakes region, offering access to one of Africa's greenest power grids. This market is a strategic choice for operators who require a mix of low-latency delivery and a high renewable energy profile to secure regional digital growth.

Uganda: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

As a landlocked nation with aggressive digital goals, Uganda focuses on terrestrial fiber redundancy to maintain uptime across its borders.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: Carrier count: over 10. The market features a mix of regional telcos and specialized fiber providers, with roughly 10–15 active players as of September 2025. While smaller than some coastal neighbors, the density is sufficient for reliable enterprise redundancy.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: Over 0, enabling access to 0 cloud regions. While no direct on-ramps for AWS, Google Cloud (GCP), or Microsoft Azure are physically located in Kampala, local providers offer private peering and wave services to the Nairobi hub as of September 2025. This setup allows for sub-20ms latency to major cloud environments.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): The Uganda Internet eXchange Point (UIXP) serves as the primary hub in Kampala. It effectively localizes traffic to keep data within the country, which significantly improves speed for local end-users as of September 2025.

Bare Metal: Bare metal services are available through regional providers and local integrators. Global options like Leaseweb provide adjacent reach to the market as of September 2025.

Power Analysis

Uganda offers a unique advantage for sustainability-focused operations because of its heavy reliance on hydroelectric power.

Average Cost Of Power: Industrial electricity: USD 0.06–0.10 / kWh, as of September 2025. These rates are highly competitive within the East African Community, providing a cost-effective base for high-density compute.

Power Grid Reliability: The grid is well-engineered in major industrial corridors, supported by multi-substation feeds in the Kampala metropolitan area. Redundancy is typically managed through on-site generation to mitigate occasional distribution fluctuations as of September 2025.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Strategic location and a young, tech-literate population make Uganda a primary destination for regional expansion.

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers are concentrated near Kampala Central and the Namanve Industrial Park. This proximity allows for rapid physical access and low-latency connectivity for financial and government headquarters as of September 2025.

Regional Market Reach: Uganda acts as a digital transit point for South Sudan, Rwanda, and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. This provides access to a combined population of over 100 million people as of September 2025.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: There are currently no dedicated tax breaks for the data center sector. Businesses operate under standard corporate tax frameworks, though long-term investments may qualify for broader capital expenditure deductions as of September 2025.

Natural Disaster Risk

Uganda faces a High risk profile with an overall score of 5.7/10 as of September 2025. While the country is landlocked and free from coastal threats, terrestrial and health-related hazards require specific mitigation.

Risk Summary: High (5.7/10) Epidemic: 7.7 Drought: 6.2 River Flood: 3.9 Earthquake: 3.7

All other natural hazards, including tsunami and coastal flooding, are considered minor or non-existent due to the geographical location of the market as of September 2025.