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ICT Survey Indicates Some Telecommunication Gaps

A report presented to various stakeholders in Blantyre last week from the ICT survey, conducted by National Statistics Office (NSO) on behalf of the Malawi Regulatory Authority (MACRA) indicates that a gap still exists in the telecommunications sector.

The report shows that 45 percent Malawians at household level use mobile phones while one percent use fixed lines. Adding on, it showed that 10.9 percent of Malawians own televisions, 44.5 percent own radios and 2.9 percent afford pay television while 2.3 percent own post office boxes.

Macra Director General, Godfrey Itaye, said the findings of the survey will act as a motivation and roadmap to make ICT a catalyst for economic growth in the country.

“Looking at the findings, you will see that we have made some headway in the access to and usage of broadcasting and postal and courier services but still have some challenges in access to and usage of some ICT services in the telecommunications sector,” said Itaye.

He further said the findings are awake up call and should re-ignite the sector into action.

Itaye said it is the duty of all stakeholders in the sector to make a collective contribution in narrowing the access gap that exists in the ICT sector.

“As a regulator of communications services, we have a number of projects lined up that are key to bridging this access gap. We ask you our licensed operators to embrace and support these projects as you are our major stakeholders in our drive to promote universal access to ICT,” he said.

National Statistics Office Assistant Commissioner Lizzie Chikoti said the findings are the first of its kind in the country, as ICT did not have any data base.

She said this will help in providing a benchmark for the ICT data in the country.

“We did the survey in a very professional manner following international standards bearing in mind that this is the first survey in the country,” said Chikoti.

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