Taking Colombia’s USF to the next level

Sebastian Mendes from UNE at the Compartel workshop in Bogota

Representatives from GBI traveled to Bogota this month to participate in a stakeholder’s workshop, held by Compartel, the Colombian Ministry of Information and Communications Technology’s universal service administrator. The February 15th workshop was designed as a means of gathering stakeholder input to Compartel’s strategic planning process. Compartel is planning to restructure itself to effectively address the next generation of challenges for the use of ICTs in Colombia, and it invited GBI and key personnel from Intel Corporation’s World Ahead program to participate in the workshop.

Following the workshop, Compartel and GBI went into an intensive 2 day work planning session that laid out a six month plan of cooperation to define ICT sector goals and objectives, map strategic activities of Compartel, and to provide technical assistance on strategic plan implementation. David Townsend, Daniel Espitia, and Robert Otto represented the GBI team in Bogota.

Compartel, the Colombian Ministry of Information and Communications Technology’s universal service administrator, has already accomplished many important milestones with its Vive Digital program to connect most of Colombia to Internet and voice services. Among their accomplishments are completion of 2,000 kilometers of terrestrial fiber optic channels, 800 kilometers of undersea fiber optic cable to its offshore island of San Andres. Projects underway include an 18,000 kilometer national fiber optic network to serve some 753 municipalities, provision of broadband to 6,700 public schools, in-home broadband connections for 115,000 low income households, and seven projects designed to provide 10,000 more broadband connections for public schools, small villages, and community telecenters.

February 28, 2012/by actualize

GBI Highlights, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

GBI to provide telecom training in Tanzania

GBI is pleased to announce it will deliver a comprehensive training workshop to representatives of African Universal Service and Access Funds, and other stakeholders in African rural communications, at the CTO’s 6th Annual Connecting Rural Communities (CRC) Africa Forum, due to take place in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from the 24th to 26th of August 2011.

The half-day workshop is being delivered as part of the Global Broadband Innovations (GBI) programme of USAID, which aims to catalyze the increased and equitable provision of broadband and related applications. The programme supports national governments to expand connectivity, as well as create and use development-related software applications and cloud services. It will initially focus on strengthening Universal Service and Access Funds (USAF), advising on appropriate ICT regulations and broadband strategies, as well as developing new business models that can incorporate low-cost technologies into existing mobile networks.

In addition to examining the latest trends in USAF, including issues of strategy, fund collection, expenditure as well as project evaluation, the workshop in Dar Es Salaam will also allow stakeholders to review various USAF development and assistance strategies.

Speaking following the confirmation of GBI’s participation in the 6th CRC Forum, GBI Program Manager, Joe Duncan, said “We know that access to telecommunications has enormous benefits, both socially and economically, to rural communities. This is a great opportunity to bring what we know about universal service to the men and women who are working so hard to provide rural connectivity in their countries.”

The 6th CRC Forum, which is organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), and hosted by the Tanzanian Ministry of Communications Science and Technology and the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, will serve as a platform for in-depth interactive discussions on innovative strategies, business models, financing mechanisms and technologies for improving ICT access in rural areas and realizing their socio-economic benefits with the participation of policy makers, regulators and various market players.

August 16, 2011/by actualize