Addis Ababa: Ethiopia is doing quite a lot in terms of connectivity and practically improving daily in this regard, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Regional Director for Africa Anne-Rachel Inne said.
In an exclusive interview with ENA, Inne said Ethiopia is one of the countries in Africa that has opened up its telecom market.
‘Now we have two operators, Ethio telecom and Safaricom,’ she said, adding the ITU is the UN agency and all telecommunication operators, just like mobile network operators, are members.
One of the things that the ITU helps countries do in this case, Ethiopia, is to look into what we can help in terms of regulation, policies that are good for the country and good for operators that want to come in the country, according to the director.
‘Ethiopia is one of the members of ITU, which means as you have seen, it (Ethiopia) is doing quite a lot in terms of connectivity and improving practically daily. This is wonderful.’
‘We are looking to stay behind Ethiopia to make sure tha
t this is for the benefit of its people,’ she elaborated.
Moreover, she elaborated that we have been doing quite a lot actually in telecommunications and infrastructure for connectivity on the continent, including Ethiopia.
We are in the process of mapping countries to see where the schools are and how they can be connected, she said.
Then, we could see if we could supply infrastructure facilities such as fiber and satellites, she said, adding where appropriate, providing trainings to teaches by organizations like UNESCO.
‘We are hoping for connecting schools, once we map those schools and we look into how we take connectivity to the schools, it will also help us in terms of augmenting the infrastructure in the countries,’ she added.
She elaborated what we are trying is to make sure that locally, all of the schools are known; then we can tell how to connect them, for example, if we ever end up in another case where people have to stay home that kids will have access to education.
She stressed that conne
ctivity not just for the sake of connectivity but for citizens, for young people, adults, for schools, lifelong education, including people with disabilities, we really want everybody to be included.
‘We are connecting schools; we are also hoping that we will augment the infrastructure for connectivity on the African continent,’ she said.
Recall that the International Telecommunication Union has launched Digital Transformation Centers (DTC) in Addis Ababa in 2022 with a view to enhancing the digital capacities of citizens in the country.
The DTC initiative will also help Ethiopia to enhance the use of digital technology for teaching and learning, administration, research, among others.
Source: Ethiopian News Agency
WINDHOEK: President of Angola and Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairperson, João Lourenço said the late Hage Geingob’s legacy must be preserved and should serve as reference for the achievement and great objectives of SADC and Africa.
Speaking at the final memorial service of Geingob here on Saturday, Lourenço emphasised that doing so will serve as paying homage to Africa’s great son of contemporary history.
He highlighted that while serving as chairperson of SADC in 2018, Geingob spearheaded the regional industrialisation agenda by promoting the development of regional infrastructure, youth empowerment and sustainable development of the region.
He further noted that Geingob played a role in advocating for peace, stability and security in the region which are fundamental premises for the economic and social development of the sub-region.
‘The achievements of President Hage Geingob are of such magnitude and scope that we will not be able to describe them in a few words… that is the way in
which he dedicated himself and gave his life to building the progress and development of his nation, the southern African region and the African continent in general,’ he said.
Lourenço equally said the pain and sadness is written on the faces of the Namibian citizens due to the loss of their esteemed and admired leader, noting that he is however convinced that Namibians will know how to transform the sad energy in dedicating and transforming it into bravery to build a strong, resilient, exemplary nation in terms of stability, security and peace – which Geingob steered.
‘The pain of the Namibian people is our pain and for this reason we are present here sharing this pain and saying that in difficult times like this, you can always count on our solidarity,’ he said.
Geingob will be buried at the national shrine, Heroes’ Acre in Windhoek on Sunday, which will run concurrently with a 21-gun salute.
Source: The Namibia Press Agency