07 Jun 2016

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) wants 60 per cent of the world’s population to use Internet by 2020.

Officially opening the AFRINIC-24 meeting in Gaborone on Monday June 6,  Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Tshenolo Mabeo, said the 60 per cent mark would be equivalent to bringing another 1.5 billion people online.

He said it was evident that countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa made a sizeable investment in developing and deploying infrastructure such as 3G and 4G networks to enable connectivity.

With such efforts, he said, it was everyone’s belief that Africa shall contribute significantly to the 60 per cent of the people using Internet by 2020.

Mr Mabeo said Botswana, through his ministry, had developed a broadband strategy that provided a holistic and coordinated approach to implementation of the ICTs ecosystem in the country.

He said the overall vision of the broadband strategy was to connect every citizen, business, communities and the country to a high speed broadband infrastructure at appropriate quality of services and affordable prices.

One of the key achievements was the investment that the country had made to provide faster connectivity via undersea cables and roll out of ICT infrastructure to connect cities, towns, villages and communities to the network.

The minister said they also had plans to roll out broadband Internet to rural areas. However, he noted that governments could only create an enabling environment.

“You, as the captains of the Internet industry must oversee the development of this sector,” he added. He said governments were committed to developing their networks so that citizens could reap the full benefits that the Internet could afford them.

Mr Mabeo said for a continent to be successful, it must approach and take broadband as an ecosystem.

For his part, the chief executive officer of BOCRA, Mr Thari Pheko, said Africa should create a conducive environment for Internet operators to enable them empower individuals and nations. ENDS