| Lead organizations involved in national ICT policy making and basic policy Instruments | ICT policy objectives and priorities | Progress in implementation | Challenges for policy-making and gaps in existing policy framework | Treatment of social objectives, particularly gender issues | Recommendations from ACACIA country-strategy reports |
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Mozambique | National Telecommunications Institute of Mozambique, responsible for sector policy, regulation and supervision of state owned carrier. | Restructure the telecommunications sector and improve operational efficiency of national operator | TDM established in 1992 as an independent commercial entity and has been accelerating network expansion | There is no overall framwork for national ICT policy-making, but the government is enthusiastic and keen to build on the research and training capability of CIUEM and to use ICTs for poverty alleviation | Existing policies do not include any treatment of social issues, including gender | Support development of national informatics policy and assist the formation of a broad-based forum to debate ICT priorities and design strategies for the sector |
| Telecommunications Act (in 1992) | | Licencing phone shops for resale of voice capacity | Several donors and multilateral agencies are present in the country; this raises the issue of ensuring that national priorities continue to determine and define the evolution of ICT policy and also requires that care be taken to avoid duplication, set clear priorities, and co-ordinate efforts | CIUEM's senior staff includes one woman who is active in gender and development work and led teh Mozambican delegation at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing | Demonstrate technology applications and support content and applications development, especially in education and health |
| | | | | | Set up telecentres in rural communities |
| | | | | | Assist in program management, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting by applying community-surveillance methodology |
| | | | | | Facilitate strengthening of TDM's technology assessment and CIUEM's training capabilities |
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Senegal | Post and Telecommunication Research and Regulation Department in the Ministry of Communications, responsible for applying policy directives and formulating regulatory proposals | Transfer ownership of SONATEL (telecom network operator) to the private sector through strategic equity sale | Good progress on establishing a reliable, modern digital network | Extending policy scope to social objectives while building on the progress already made in improving operation of the telecom sector | Telecom-policy formulation has focused almost exclusively on performance of the operator and sector structure; an opportunity exists to expand policy scope | Formalize a framework for coordinating inputs of stakeholders and donors; support the policy-formulation process and encourage a widening of the scope of those policies totake account of the interests of the disadvantaged |
| NTCC is an arbitration authority and a consultative body that reports to the office of the President; NTCC is a powerful body that sets the vision for telecom policy in the country; NTCC has mandated a national commission to investigate and assess key aspects of telecom development | Undertake major tariff reform and adopt cost-oriented tariffing; targets for tariff reduction set at 5% per annum | Good complement of skilled staff, including at technical and managerial levels; senior staff in SONATEL are well organized, and the management association provides professional development and skills upgrading; productivity in SONATEL has improved steadily | Given the profitability of telecoms in urban Senegal, sector reform should tie franchises in cities to universal-service obligations for rural network development | Women's NGOs and other stakeholders concerned about gender issues are active in Senegal but have not been able to influence the development of national ICT policy | Carry out needs-assessment studies; launch an awareness campaign |
| Telecommunications Act (in 1992) | Facilitate international competitiveness of Senegal's services sector by reducing cost and improving quality of telecom inputs | Small private operators have been permitted to set up public phone booths (telecentres) and resell voice, telex, and fax services, by 1995, there were 1 500 private operators | Telecommunications is regarded as a strategic industry in Senegal; NTCC's mandate should be extended to include a wider range of telematics services and take account of the interests of users | | Evaluate telecentres to identify mechanisms to encourage young people to use these services |
| | | | The success of telecentres has provided access and employment; these facilities can be upgraded and improved and used as a basis for development of other capabilities, such as electronic-publishing skills | | Launch a multilevel program for human-resources development, involving formal and informal institutions and taking steps to encourage and support participation of women and young people |
| | | | Senegal can play a leadership role in West AFrica; policymakers should take up the challenge of sharing their experiences with neighbouring countries and provide technical assistance, when possible | | Establish a software-engineering centre |
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South Africa | Department of Communications, leading in policy formulation | Expand telecommunications network to previously disadvantaged communities | Network roll-out program is proceeding through monoply operator, TELKOM | Reconciling the sectoral restructuring objectives and the social objectives: black empowerment and participation of women in telecommunications | Telecommunications Act includes provisions to redress gender imbalance and other areas of disadvantage | Facilitate an Information Society Policy process, led by the Department of Communications but involving all relevant government departments, including Education, Health, Arts, Cluture and Science and Technology, Industry and Trade, Finance, and Environment, and provisional governments and civil-society organizations |
| Independent regulatory body, SATRA, which includes oversight for the broadcasting industry, which was previously under the jurisdiction of the Independent Broadcasting Authority | Encourage and suport participation of black South Africans in the telecommunications industry | Experimentation with telecentres as mechanism for rapid decentralization of communicaitons infrastructure | Leveraging the installed network base to build a world-class capability in ICTs | Consultative process involved in drafting of the Telecommunications Act did not explicitly deal with gender issues; however, these are likely to be raised in the consultation process for the new Broadcasting Act | Expand telecentres as training centres and support other training initiatives |
| Department of Trade and Industry and Department of Arts, Culture and Sciences | Expand the range of ICT services and maintain quality of service delivery | Regulatory body established and working well with implementing agencies, such as the Universal Service Agency, and the Department of Communications (central government) | Harnessing ICTs for development of the majorty of South Africans, rather than an elite | | Increase capacities of users at community level, including development of high-level engineering and software-engineering skills |
| Telecommunications Act (in 1996) | Establish a first-class regulatory strcture in the telecommunications industry | | | | Pilot applications of ICTs in malaria prevention and treatment and education |
| Broadcasting Act (currently under review) | Facilitate use of new technologies in the development of a national broad-band communications network | | | | Stimulate development of tools and technologies to facilitate use of ICTs by people with limited literacy skills and whose mother tongue is not English |
| | | | | | Develop evaluation methods to strengthen the voice of the disadvantaged in policy processes |
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Uganda | Ministry of Works, Transportation and Communications | Upgrade and expand the telecommunications network infrastructure to more effectively deliver new services, increase geographical distribution and coverage of the network, increase telephone density, and serve unmet customer demand, including that in rural communities | Restructuring of the telecommunications industry, including privatization and licencing of multiple operators, has made good progress; new regulator, the Uganda Communications Commission, has been established | Lack of coordination across decision-making bodies | TSPA does not explicitly identify any groups for special treatment within rural communities | Facilitate multistakeholder national forum |
| Ministry of Information | Provide for stable, orderly regulation of the telecommunications sector to attract private investment and facilitate government withdrawal from ownership of telecom operators | Pilot projects for telecentres have been set up in rural communities | Emphasis on the network compnent of ICTs | | Support the establishment of a fund for rural communication development |
| Uganda Communications Commission | | | Insufficient consultation with a broad range of stakeholders | | Support the establishment of a policy framework for introduction of telecentres as a way to extend ICTs to rural areas |
| TSPA (in 1997) | | | Existing urban bias in network coverage requires very large investment and policy intervention | | Pilot new technologies and support content creation and applications to use ICTs for trade, commerce, and education |
| Uganda Communications Act (in 1997) | | | Does not address some of the contradictions in present restructuring plan | | |
Source: Based on primary and secondary data, ACACIA country studies, and interviews with ITU and UNCTAD officals. Note: CIUEM Computing Centre of Eduardo Mondiane University; ICT, information and communication technology; ITU, International Telecommunications Union, NGO, nongovernmental organization; NTCC, National Telecommunications Co-ordinating Committee; SATRA, South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority; TDM, Telecommunications Department of Mozambique; TSPA, Telecommunication Sector Policy Announcement; UNCTAD, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development | |