Malawi’s Minister of Information and Civic Education, Brown Mpinganjira on Monday called on all ICT players in the country to partner the government in ensuring that the rural population has access to internet services, in a speech at the official commissioning ceremony of the Television White Spaces (TVWS) Pilot Project, reports the Malawi News Agency. TVWS is a project led by the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) and the University of Malawi with an aim of providing affordable broadband connectivity to rural regions using the identified gaps (White Spaces) in the TV UHF band. Mpinganjira said: ‘This project is a realisation of the commitment by the government of Malawi to promote universal access to ICT services by creating an environment that is conducive for joint ventures between the public and private sector through arrangements such as Public Private Partnership.’ The minister noted that Malawi is one of only a handful of countries in the world which are piloting White Spaces broadband initiatives, including the US, the UK, South Africa and Kenya. In Malawi, the project is initially being piloted at St Mary’s secondary school, Malawi Defence Force Airwing, Pirimiti Rural Hospital and the Geological Survey Department. Attendants at the TVWS commissioning event heard that ‘broadband connectivity is no longer a luxury but a necessity and it should not be underrated since it is a leap step towards achievement of many development gains that are related to internet connectivity.’
04 Dec 2013
