For a long time, the quality of telecommunication equipment that comes into Uganda has been substandard. Starting from the mobile phone which is the main communication tool, to base station equipment responsible for the routing and transmission of calls. Stories are rife of phones that hardly last two weeks in use albeit at a very user friendly price tag. Their spares parts tend to cost more than the purchase price of the phone.

As a way of addressing this growing concern, Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) announced a partnership with HUAWEI Technologies, a Chinese telecoms equipment manufacturer, to set up testing laboratories for telecoms related equipment. HUAWEI is a well-known Telecoms equipment provider on the global stage.
This will be the first time ever that such gadgets are locally tested before entering the ever growing Ugandan ICT market. Dr. Terry Kahuma the Executive Director of UNBS decried the poor quality equipment that frequently finds its way into the market.

The decision to go with HUAWEI however leaves a number of people wondering how an industry player can be used conduct the regulation of products of its competitors.