The pervasive use of the internet globally has increased the importance of the telecommunications sector as a vital enabler of socio-economic development. As a result, ensuring citizens’ access to broadband has become a public policy priority in many countries. However, limited telecommunications network development represents one of the major obstacles to making the internet available in rural and geographically isolated areas. This is one of the main reasons why over four billion people still do not have any internet access, and this can also contribute to high prices and slow speeds for many of the connected.
APC together with Deloitte wrote a report on infrastructure sharing called “Unlocking broadband for all – Broadband Infrastructure sharing policies and strategies in emerging markets”
The report examines the opportunities and benefits of infrastructure sharing globally, and in the case of Africa. These benefits include but not limited to:
• Better connectivity
• Cost saving
• Revenue generation
• Competition
To build on the report’s findings and recommendations, APC is co-hosting a series of regional workshops for policy makers and regulators in Sub Saharan Africa. Therefore APC invited the support of SADC and CRASA to convene a 2-day workshop in Johannesburg for policy makers and regulators in Southern Africa. The objectives of the workshop are to discuss and validate the potential policy and regulatory implications of an important new study on Infrastructure Sharing for improving universal access to broadband.