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NCR backs White Paper on rural coverage in Africa


The Network of Communications Reporters (NCR), has barked a white paper issued by the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) and Huawei, global telecoms giant, calling on telecom companies to co-share their infrastructure in rural parts of Africa to reduce the operational cost.

According to the NCR, the call comes in handy particularly at a time when the telecom companies are refusing to expand rapidly to those areas because of issues of cost and profitability.

In a release signed by the Dean of the NCR, Mr Charles Benoni Okine, the network was of the view that rural telephony penetration was still low in the rural areas, a phenomenon which is denying the people the opportunity to improve their economic wellbeing.

Particularly at a time when the government is keen on rolling out its One District One Factory initiative more rigorously, there is the need for telephony expansion to cover all parts of the country to accelerate development.

Issues of cost should not be entertained because have the capacity to draw up a strong business module that can help them cover cost and that is why the issue about co-sharing of infrastructure comes in.

“While we commend the more than 130 per cent mobile penetration, we are aware that the penetration is mostly in urban centres which is not the best because the spread must be well balanced”, it said.

The White Paper

The ATU and Huawei jointly released a White Paper on Rural Coverage in Africa in Barcelona, Spain on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress.

The white paper appeals to the stakeholders to improve African rural network coverage, saying connectivity has the potential to transform rural people’s lives and bring benefits in a number of areas, including health, education, financial services, transport, energy, agriculture among others.

As ATU indicates, rural connectivity should be addressed as a priority by governments and stakeholders.

The white paper analyses African nations’ ICT plan and demographic and geographic features, revealing the political, social, economic and technical challenges of extending rural coverage.

Proposals are also given in the whitepaper such as proactive rural coverage standard, healthy business ecosystem and encouraging private investment.

In the white paper, infrastructure sharing and scenario-oriented solutions are recommended to address cost challenges, while a supportive regulatory and tax environment is recommended to accelerate rural digital inclusion.

The Secretary General of ATU, Abdoulkarim Soumaila, said: “All people must be able to access the Internet. ATU is privileged to be part of this gathering in view of our role to ensure development of ICTs in Africa. Stakeholders should therefore cooperate and develop smarter strategies.”

“Huawei is committed to connecting unconnected with efficient business solutions”, said Cao Ming, vice president of Huawei Wireless Product Line,

“we will keep innovating specialised solutions and cooperating with other stakeholders,” he said.

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