Mobile Money services, as a Value Added Service offering of the regulated Telecommunications Operators in Uganda has proved to be an indispensable service for the majority of the subscribers. Not only has it disrupted the way in which money was exchanged, it has also opened up new opportunities for many industries and the majority of Ugandans outside the mainstream financial sector.

As with many services that have the potential to affect the economic stability and that inherently expose the users to a certain degree of risk, the need to have a robust regulatory framework is always an important consideration. Whereas, the Uganda Communications Commission and Bank of Uganda have for some time now used the Uganda Mobile Money Guidelines of 2013, as the guiding framework to ‘regulate’ the Mobile Money services, such was lacking in so far as it was not strictly speaking, binding.

The Uganda Communications Commission, has now moved in to assert its regulatory oversight and function under the new Uganda Communications (Licensing) Regulations, 2019. This extended regulatory framework now seeks to regulate the provision of Mobile Money services as long as it is being provided over any telecommunications infrastructure in Uganda. This does not however take way the oversight function that Bank of Uganda still enjoys.