MJAAR

Technological Advancements and Business Growth: A Case of Airtel Uganda

Sserunjogi Samuel, Irumba Alex


Abstract

Telecommunications operators in Uganda have invested heavily in network and platform technology, yet the question of which technological advancements actually drive business growth, as distinct from those which merely maintain competitive parity, remains empirically unresolved. This study examined the influence of technological advancements on business growth at Airtel Uganda. Adopting a positivist philosophy and a cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from 174 respondents drawn through stratified random sampling from a target population of 285 comprising network and technical staff, commercial and marketing personnel, Airtel Money and financial services staff, customer experience personnel, enterprise business staff, and finance and strategy officers. A structured questionnaire measured four technological advancement dimensions, namely network infrastructure advancement, mobile financial technology advancement, digital platform and self-service advancement, and enterprise and data solutions advancement, against business growth assessed through revenue growth, subscriber base expansion, market share, and average revenue per user. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression in SPSS version 26. Findings revealed that network infrastructure advancement recorded the highest mean while enterprise and data solutions advancement recorded the lowest. All four dimensions correlated significantly and positively with business growth, with mobile financial technology advancement strongest (r = 0.712, p < 0.01), followed by digital platform advancement (r = 0.649, p < 0.01), network infrastructure advancement (r = 0.583, p < 0.01), and enterprise solutions advancement (r = 0.527, p < 0.01). The regression model was significant, F(4, 164) = 63.27, p < 0.001, explaining 60.7 per cent of variance, with mobile financial technology advancement (β = 0.357) dominant. The findings situate against Airtel Uganda's reported 13.3 per cent revenue growth to Ushs 2,249.7 billion and 13.9 per cent subscriber growth to 19.2 million in 2025 (Airtel Uganda, 2026), and against evidence that the sector's proportional GDP contribution declined from 2.3 per cent in 2015 to 1.8 per cent in 2020 despite heavy

Keywords

Technological advancement; business growth; telecommunications; mobile money; network
Metropolitan Journal of Academic and Applied Research

Cite This Article

Sserunjogi Samuel & Irumba Alex (2026). Technological Advancements and Business Growth: A Case of Airtel Uganda. Metropolitan Journal of Academic and Applied Research, 5(7). https://journals.miu.ac.ug/pages/article.php?article_id=701

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