Kagame Calls for Better Policies on Broadband

{{Investiment in distributing broadband, access to broadband infrastructure and role of broadband in development of nations especially the least developed countries are some of the topics discussed at the 8th Broadband commission in NewYork Satudary.}}

Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame also co-chair of the Broadband Commission told participants that investiment in broadband and establishing favourable policies that enable citizens to benefit from broadband is indeed vital.

“It is clear we have to invest more in broadband because it accelerates economic growth and impacts positively on the lives of many,”he said adding “the commissions work should focus on strengthening policy orientations that make braodband universally accessible”.

President Kagame critised private sector that tamper with economies of scale that build paralle infrastructure and competiting to provide services in few lucrative areas.
He provided a practical model that Rwanda has adopted and uniquely designed to provide broadband services for Rwandans.

“This is a kind of model we have adopted in Rwanda. Rwanda and Korea telecom have established a joint venture which will build and operate one single wholesale 4G LTE nationwide network accessible by all retail broadband service providers on an open access basis. We believe this will accelerate rollout and affordability of broadband services for Rwandans.”

The 8th broadband commission meeting also saw the unveiling of the state of broadband 2013 which showed that the number of people accessing broadband is at an all time high.

The State of broadband report indicates that people accessing braodband subsrciption through computers and smart phones are growing at a rate of 30% annually.

Billionaire Carlos slim who also co-chairs the commission called for support in propelling broadband with focus in gender with focus on access for broadband for women and girls. There are 200million fewer women online than men and the gap could grow to 350 million within next three years if no action is taken.