ICTAM pushing for low internet rates in Malawi
Information Communications Technology Association of Malawi (ICTAM) says it is pushing for innovative ways of making internet charges go down.
Speaking in an interview on Friday during the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Innovations Awards held in Mangochi, ICTAM President, Wisely Phiri said the use of local content on the Internet could help lower Internet charges in the country unlike the case at hand.
“Internet has become a basic need and we have come to a point where when planning the construction of a house, we should consider the installation of the Internet in addition to water and electricity,” he suggested.
Phiri cited that the Internet is ones right to access information even for people who live below the poverty line because through access to important communication, people could make informed choices that can later uplift their lives.
The ICTAM President added that they have achieved a lot in lobbying for advancement of ICT in the country and that some of the achievements included the establishment of the Communications Act.
He said ICTAM is currently pushing for the broadband policy where construction of houses should include internet adding that more people connected to the internet would translate to lower rates of internet.
ICT guru, Dr. Paulos Nyirenda, who scooped the Life Time Achiever Award for his ICT innovations over the decades saying low internet charges were crucial for the country’s development.
“We need institutions where we can train more people, we need introduction of ICT in technical colleges, we need to see more young people coming online, and some of the innovations can come from the technical colleges that we are building,” he narrated.
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ICTAM should start with ensuring that the country HAS reliable internet BEFORE talking about lowering costs. What’s the use of a cheap service, if that service is not available in the first place?
As I am writing this, two of my MTL products (Wimax dongle and EV DO router) are not working. My units which are already in these two gadgets will simply disappear into thin air. This is quite common with MTL, despite their being the country’s major ISP. ICTAM should pressurize MTL to improve their services, otherwise they are grossly short changing Malawians…
Malawians are suffering on this greatly. I have been in Kenya for sometime, but Kenyans enjoys internet low rates and high quality services from ISPs. What is wrong with Malawi, even phone calls are so exorbitant and the service itself of poor quality, call kumachita kupweteketsa kukhutu coz poor sound eeeesh. ICTAM bravo but in Malawi there is more to be done on these on-line service providers