BY REBECCA CHIMJEKA:
Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) has said rural internet penetration is key to development in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) region.
Macra Director General, Godfrey Itaye, said, like other countries in Sadc, Malawi’s rural internet users need internet connection.
“Access to the internet would help the citizen to connect to the civilised world and it is gateway to the places around the globe where they have friends and family,” Itaye said.
Itaye was speaking in Lilongwe yesterday during the opening of Communications Regulators Association of Southern Africa (Crasa) Electronic Communications and Postal committees meetings.
He said the meetings are important as policy makers and the government await the committees’ appropriate guidance on matters relating to the industry.
“It should, therefore, be our desire as regulators to make certain that all regulatory matters are coordinated in an effective and efficient manner. This can only be achieved if members of committees fully commit themselves to their duty and come together to exchange ideas, views and experiences on aspects of regulation in sectors of their concern,” he said.
Crasa Head of Postal Services, Brian Mwansa, said the postal system is adjusting itself to be relevant to modern needs.
“The natural tendency will be to think that, since people are no longer sending letters, the sector is going down. The resilience of the sector is such that it has been able to reinvent itself to focus on segments of the market that are growing. An example is e-commerce. Yes, letters may be on the decline but parcels are on the increase,” he said.
Mwansa said when people order things from abroad, their most preferred delivery channel is the postal operator.
Leave a Reply