The Impact of Uganda's Mobile Phone Industry's Communication of Change on Their Corporate Image

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate how effectively the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) and Uganda's cellular phone service provider (CPSPs) communicated the cellular numbering system change to their external publics' through the media, and how such communication impacted the cellular phone users. The change was effected on 1* February 2006. The Bachelor of Secretarial Studies students of Makerere University who use cellular phones were used as the study population. The study used a survey method. Questionnaires were used to collect data from 100 first year Bachelor of Secretarial Studies students from the Institute of Languages, Makerere University, Kampala. The findings show that the majority of the respondents reported that the CPSPs communicated the change in phone numbering system effectively and in time. The study also revealed that the CPSPs mostly depend on short message services (SMS), radio, TV and newspapers in communicating with their external publics. However, the CPSPs did not use SMS channel as much as would have been expected in communicating the change in phone numbering system. It was also found that the messages sent to the external publics about the change were not as repetitive as they should have been. The study found out that the CPSPs corporate image was not adversely affected by the way they communicated the change. The findings suggest that in future UCC and the CPSPs would need to show greater vigilance in preparing their clients for any system changes than they showed in case of communicating the change in cellular phone numbering system.