A conference beginning in Nairobi, Kenya today will explore plans to get 80 per cent of the continent’s population hooked up to the internet and telephone services.
The internet is seen as a vital tool in the fight against poverty on the continent, improving access to education and pushing forward ideas such as equal opportunities between men and women.
The Connecting Rural Communities Forum 2007 is organised by the Commonwealth of Telecommunications Organisations (CTO).
Ministers, regulators, business representatives and officials from all over the continent will examine the factors which have created a digital divide between Africa and other parts of the world.
Investment, regulation and public-private partnerships will be discussed, along with the issue of rural connectivity, reports AllAfrica.com.
There is also expected to be the chance for strategy sharing between countries and regions.
Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Chief Executive of the CTO, said of the conference’s delegates: “Participants in this conference are those who have come to acknowledge that challenges that the global community faces in the ICT sector, that of connecting Africa’s rural populations, are surmountable.”
