Twenty years ago, for a researcher at a Ugandan university to send data abroad, it would cost the university $3,300 a month for a single megabit of bandwidth, if a connection was available at all. Today, that same university sits on a national backbone running at 200,000 megabits per second. That leap, quiet and largely unseen outside the institutions it touches, is the story of the Research and Education Network for Uganda, known as RENU, which this year marks two decades of connecting classrooms, laboratories, health facilities and university campuses across the country.
RENU began in 2006 as a small Bandwidth Consortium established to collectively negotiate reduced cost of bandwidth, from a leading commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP) at the time, serving the interests of a handful of universities. The network only became truly independent in 2014, when support from the UbuntuNet Alliance, backed by the European Union’s AfricaConnect Project, enabled RENU to build its own 1 Gbps backbone starting with a single site. This came four years after the Uganda Communications Commission granted RENU a license to operate its own private network in 2010. From that modest foundation, the network has grown steadily, moving from 1 Gbps to 10 Gbps, and now to 200 Gbps on its largest link, completed in October 2025.
The numbers tell only part of the story. With 200 Gbps of capacity, genome sequencing data that once crawled across borders can now move seamlessly between Ugandan laboratories and international collaborators. AI infrastructure that was unthinkable a decade ago is becoming feasible at university data centres. Institutions that once treated connectivity as a luxury can now build it into how they teach, treat patients and conduct research.
“Having seen the network grow from 1 Gbps to 200 Gbps is truly exciting,” says Patience Nagaba of RENU. “This upgrade means we now have much bigger pipes and hence capacity to serve the needs of our members today and in future.” Brian Masiga, CEO of RENU Labs and former Head of Network Operations at RENU, puts it in research terms: “With 200 Gbps, large genome sequencing data sets can now move seamlessly across the network. This is critical for cutting edge research and international collaboration.” For Masiga, the upgrade is about more than speed. “This is the first step in making our infrastructure AI-ready, from our data centres to our institutions,” he says.
On 25th June 2025, RENU connected Ishongororo Health Centre IV in western Uganda, marking its 1,000th connected site. The achievement spans remote clinical research stations, district health centres, university and school campuses across the country, enabling access to electronic medical record systems, remote consultations and global research communities. “A heartfelt thank you to every partner, institution and community that helped us reach this landmark,” RENU said in marking the milestone. “Here’s to the next 1,000 connected sites.”
Speaking at RENU’s 20th anniversary celebrations, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa described the milestone as both a moment of reflection and a launchpad for a more ambitious phase of digital transformation. He credited RENU with changing how Uganda’s universities and research institutions operate, noting that two decades ago, reliable and affordable internet access was a major barrier that left institutions largely isolated. “The world is moving fast. Technologies like AI and big data are reshaping how knowledge is created and applied. Uganda must not only adopt them, but we must help shape them,” Tayebwa said, reaffirming Parliament’s commitment to policies and investment that strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure and innovation ecosystem.
Alongside the infrastructure upgrade, RENU has rolled out a new generation of services for its member institutions, including the free, secure on-campus and off-campus (Metro) eduroam, eduroam on the Go, solar-powered routers for connectivity in underserved communities, and Virtual Labs supporting remote teaching and research. The organisation has also earned ISO certification for Quality Management Systems and Information Security Management, was recently recognised as the best-governed Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in Uganda by Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda (ICGU), and best SME in financial reporting by the Institute of Public Certified Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU)
RENU is Uganda’s National Research and Education Network (NREN) established in 2006 by Ugandan universities and research institutions. It is a not for profit organization and is member owned. RENU provides high-speed internet connectivity and a wide range of ICT solutions to research organisations, health facilities, universities, schools and Other Tertiary Institutions (OTIs), to overcome barriers to information and knowledge exchange across Uganda’s research and education community.
RENU’s mission is to facilitate national development through the provision of digital solutions for research and education and its vision is empowered communities through world-class digital infrastructure.
Twenty years on, RENU now connects 500 member institutions through 1,200 sites nationwide, a network built with one signal, one campus and one community at a time.
