Mozambique’s communications regulatory authority (INCM) validated its Internet Para Todas e Todos (Internet for All) national strategy this week, establishing a roadmap to achieve 95% broadband coverage across the country by 2030.
The implementation plan, presented in Maputo on Thursday following joint development with the Global digital Inclusion Partnership (GDIP), sets targets to expand digital infrastructure, drive down consumer data costs, and increase mobile connectivity over the next six years, according to INCM.
Under the framework, Mozambique aims to increase mobile internet subscribers to 12 million and raise active internet use to about 60% of the eligible population.
The strategy prioritises accelerating the deployment of rural base transceiver stations and expanding the national fibre-optic backbone, alongside connecting at least 60% of primary and secondary schools to high-speed internet.
It also targets basic digital skills for at least 40% of adults, a gender gap in internet access below 10%, and community multimedia centres in all 154 district headquarters.
To tackle hardware affordability, INCM cited an active programme to subsidise about 280 000 internet-enabled devices for low-income and vulnerable people.
Helena Fernandes, president of the INCM board of directors, asserted that expanding access must be paired with service quality and consumer protection.
ITWeb Africa previously reported that the Southern African nation is developing a Tariff Management System to ensure greater transparency in data packages, scheduled to become operational in November.
The platform aims to strengthen monitoring of tariffs and packages offered by operators, compare tariffs, identify the effective price of a service, including its conditions and validity, verify the conditions applied to consumers, and ensure greater transparency and accountability in the provision of telecommunications services.
“Mozambique has made significant progress in expanding telecommunications networks and access to digital services. However, significant challenges remain. When we talk about internet for all, we are not just talking about increasing the number of people connected. We are talking about ensuring quality connectivity, accessibility, digital skills, security and effective use of the internet to improve the lives of Mozambicans,” said Fernandes.
The strategy rests on five core operational pillars spanning infrastructure expansion, affordable connectivity, skills development, digital public services such as the national Portal do Cidadão (the nation’s centralised e-government platform), and favourable regulatory governance.
Sónia Jorge, executive director at GDIP, noted that the consolidated roadmap positions Mozambique to serve as a benchmark for public-private coordination across the SADC region, adding that cohesive coordination is essential to ensure connectivity translates into real socio-economic development.
“Mozambique has the potential to be a model here in the region. These projects are very important, they are already having some impact, but there is still much to be done.”
She also underlined the need for greater coordination between existing projects and new interventions, in order to ensure that connectivity has a real impact on people's lives.
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