ITU and EC to Create Investment Environment for ICT in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Caribbean
The International Telecommunication Union and the European Commission concluded an agreement aimed at attracting massive investment in ICT infrastructure and ICT-enabled applications.
Over the past decade, most countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific and the Caribbean have initiated reforms in the telecommunication sector by establishing NRAs, introducing competition and at least partially privatizing operators. However, large sections of the population remain without basic access to ICT services. Key reforms have yet to be undertaken in many countries, which would provide regulators with the tools and authority to effectively regulate the sector as a means of boosting investment, promoting innovation and building confidence in ICT markets.
The European Union has allocated 8 million euro from the European Development Fund, to which ITU will add 500,000 dollar of its own resources. The work will be managed and implemented by ITU.
The agreement aims at the harmonization of regulatory frameworks and the building of human as well as institutional capacity in the field of ICT. A fundamental shift in policy and regulatory frameworks is considered essential to achieve the connectivity targets by 2015 as committed in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the objectives of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which recognized that “to maximize the social, economic and environmental benefits of the Information Society, governments need to create a trustworthy, transparent and non-discriminatory legal, regulatory and policy environment”.
An effective and harmonized regulatory framework will encourage private sector investment in the telecoms market. More competition will lead to lower prices and better service for African customers. It will also provide an enabling environment for the 55 billion dollar commitments made at the Connect Africa Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, last October and contribute to closing the digital divide on the African continent.
The ITU-EC collaboration is a follow-up to commitments made at the Connect Africa Summit when the European Commission announced its support for ITU’s regulatory reform initiatives in Africa.
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Source: ITU
