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Zimbabwe crafting new ICT policy

By , ITWeb
Zimbabwe , 01 Aug 2012

Zimbabwe crafting new ICT policy

Zimbabwe is in the process of putting together a new Information and Communications Technology (ICT) policy aimed at boosting the country's tech sector and flagging economy.

The process of crafting the policy, which started last month, is being conducted across the whole country to overhaul an ICT policy that was drafted in 2005.

This move comes after the private sector and other interested foreign investors reportedly complained of the regulatory framework that made ICT penetration into the country virtually impossible.

Cited examples included the banning the BlackBerry from being used in Zimbabwe for fear of security threats to the government.

However, Zimbabwe's minister of information and communication technology, Nelson Chamisa, has said that the new ICT policy would be people driven.

Chamisa said the process to craft the ICT policy would give Zimbabwean innovators, technology experts and the general population an opportunity to submit what they would want to see drafted into the policy formulation.

"The response has been exciting and overwhelming. People know what they want, this policy will be people driven," Chamisa said.

"Issues raised during the outreach include reliability, infrastructure sharing, consumer protection, cyber security, e-government, e-commerce as well as well as improving the quality of service by voice operators," said Chamisa.

Chamisa could not reveal when the process would end.

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