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Africa, Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, USAF Updates, Where we work

Communications Commission of Kenya releases National Broadband Strategy for public hearing

This past January the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) presented the draft of their National Broadband Strategy for public review. The strategy outlines a comprehensive plan for bringing communications services and ICT business development to all of Kenya. Expected to cost US$ 2.4 billion, 70% is budgeted for national infrastructure while the remainder will be used for capacity building and content development. Funding will be a combination of public and private sources and will include accessing Kenya’s capital markets. Read more …

April 19, 2013/by actualize

Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, Latin America and the Caribbean, USAF Updates, Where we work

Broadband Partnership of the Americas

President Obama, seated at a panel discussion at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia In April 2012, President Obama announced the creation of the Broadband Partnership of the Americas, an effort set to improve internet access across the Latin America and Caribbean region. The President was in Cartagena, Colombia, for the Sixth Summit of the Americas.

The Broadband Partnership for the Americas (BPA) is designed to improve access to broadband and the Internet and other communications technologies in the Americas. It will serve as a voluntary and flexible framework through which the governments of the Western Hemisphere, multilateral organizations, the donor community and the private sector can collaborate to increase access to broadband and the Internet across the Americas.

The BPA is supported by USAID and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and will be managed by the Global Broadband and Innovations Program, of which Integra is an implementing partner.

Eric Postel, Assistant Administrator for USAID’s Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade Bureau, said in a joint statement with the FCC, “We are very excited about this rich partnering opportunity within our own hemisphere- where we can mobilize public and private resources toward achieving more equitable access to broadband and the Internet as a key contributor to development.”

The financial and technical resources mobilized through the BPA will be used to help interested countries advance a range of information technology initiatives, including:

– developing and implementing national broadband strategies;

– creating or upgrading universal service funds to finance the expansion of mobile and broadband technologies to rural communities;

– improving international and regional connectivity by linking existing broadband networks;

– collaborating on a regional effort to harmonize the use of digital spectrum; and

– sharing best practices.

For more information, please visit GBI’s Broadband Partnership of the Americas page.

April 19, 2012/by actualize

GBI Highlights, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

GBI, Kenya to expand broadband and universal service

Mr. Francis Wangusi, Director General, CCK (Right) and Ms. Erna Kerst, Mission Director USAID Kenya during the signing of an MoU at CCK Centre, Nairobi

According to an agreement signed today between the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the US Government shall assist CCK in developing strategies to stimulate universal access to ICT services in underserved and un-served areas of the country.
The technical assistance covers the development of a national broadband strategy to underpin the deployment of modern broadband infrastructure to meet the needs of businesses, government and the entire economy. The assistance, which shall be provided through the USAID’s Global Broadband and Innovations (GBI) initiative, will also assist CCK in developing capacity in universal service Fund management, and universal service.

Addressing the media during the signing of the agreement at the CCK Centre, USAID’s Mission Director, Ms. Erna Kerst, said the US Government was happy to partner with Kenya in facilitating enhanced access to ICT services.

She said Kenya was ahead of many sub-Saharan African countries in the level of development of ICTs, particularly in the area of mobile applications.

“Kenya is leading the way in ICT innovations and in the development of applications that are changing the lives of people in Kenya and elsewhere in the World,” she said.

In his address, Ag. CCK Director-General Mr. Francis W. Wangusi said the development of universal access and broadband strategies would invigorate the growth of the ICT sector and thus accelerate the development of other sectors of the economy, including provision of e- and m- government services.

Citing the ICT Access Gaps Study undertaken by CCK last year, Mr. Wangusi said close to 1,120 sub-locations out of the total of 7,149 in the country had no access to basic communication services. This situation, he added, called for urgent regulatory interventions to facilitate the transition of a sizeable number of Kenyans to the digital age.

The Director-General decried the prevailing low penetration of data/internet services in Kenya, saying the country had only 5.2 million Internet subscribers, of which 2.33% were broadband. He said the strategies to be developed through USAID’s technical assistance would play a key role in improving access to communications services in all parts of the country.

March 10, 2012/by actualize

GBI Highlights, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

GBI, Compartel to Take Colombia’s USF to the Next Level

Three men on a panel discussing telecommunications in Colombia

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

Universal Service Forum held in Ukraine

GBI sponsored and participated in the Intel Corporation’s 2011 USF Leader’s Forum held in Ukraine from 7-9 December. The event, which focused on strategies for improving the operations of telecommunications universal service funds, and telecommunications regulation in general, was heavily attended by government officials from throughout the Europe and Eurasia region.

The program featured welcoming remarks from the Chairman of Ukraine’s National Commission for Communications Regulation (NCCR), Mr. Petro Yatsuk, and from the Acting Director of the USAID Regional Mission for Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, Ms. Sarah Wines. Administrators of successful universal service and access fund from throughout the region were invited to discuss their portfolio of activities, and stimulating presentations were given from representatives from Turkey, Pakistan, and Colombia.

At a press conference held during the event Mr. Yatsuk of the NCCR described the ongoing process of creating a Universal Service Fund in Ukraine. The country plans to introduce authorizing legislation in parliament next year and is currently engaged in a consultative process that will shape the proposed fund. The NCCR found the Forum especially useful in this regard.

Following the Forum, GBI is engaging with Universal Service Funds and telecommunications ministries from across the region and beyond to determine how USAID can best assist them in expanding broadband access in their country. Visit our Universal Service and Access Fund page to find out more about GBI’s work in USAF.

January 4, 2012/by actualize

GBI Highlights, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

Asian USF Leaders Meet in Jakarta

Conference participants listen as David Townsed presents at the Asia Leaders USF Forum

Photo credit: Eric White

Last week in Jakarta GBI co-sponsored and participated in the “Universal Service Fund Asia Leaders Forum,” a two-day workshop that brought together administrators of Universal Service Funds (USFs) throughout the Asia/Pacific and Middle East regions. Attendees had the opportunity to interact with other USF administrators and learn about how other countries had found unique solutions to common problems. The workshop consisted of presentations by advanced USF as well as panel discussions by USF administrators that were moderated by GBI’s USF expert, Mr. David Townsend. Great interest was sparked by Turkey’s presentation of the “Fatih” school computing program, as well as Malaysia’s “Wireless Village” project. The CEO of Pakistan’s USF, Mr. Parvez Iftikhar, described his country’s policy of subsidizing service, rather that infrastructure, and detailed how he enforces this requirement through a unique scheme that employs government liens on infrastructure. A number of countries expressed interest in trying to copy the model.

David Townsend presents to the Asia Leaders USF Forum in Jakarta, Indonesia

Photo Credit: Eric White

The workshop was officially opened by Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, H.E. Hatta Rajasa, who declared Indonesia to have a strong interest in the expansion of broadband access while committing his government to a target of 30% broadband penetration by 2014. It closed with a discussion of the tools that countries needed to achieve such aggressive broadband penetration targets. In the interim discussions ranged from how to create strategic and operational plans for USFs to the particular benefits of providing broadband access as opposed to other forms of communication.

In the end all participants left satisfied that they had contributed to a worthwhile discussion, and many left with ideas for how to improve broadband operations in their own country. Mr. P. Choesin, of Indonesia’s Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) was so impressed with the conference that he suggested expanding it to include a worldwide audience and conducting it at a ministerial level.

The forum was the second in a worldwide series that is being sponsored by GBI in association with Intel Corporation.

June 15, 2011/by actualize