ICT ministries across Africa are urged to align regional policies in a bid to further broadband connectivity, and empower their citizens.

Sharoda Rapeti, Director, Technology and Media from Deloitte, encouraged officials representing 21 countries from across Africa to integrate their respective government's own digitisation plans as an integral part of rollout of accelerated ICT and broadband strategies.

"I want to emphasise regionally aligned policies because these comprehensively address harmonised technology standards, strategic performance in local manufacturing, and also address intersect between industries because of the Internet of Things and everything as a service," said Rapeti.

She also advised delegates to develop a forecast of future ICT skills requirements, with a focus on STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) graduates who are expected to underpin technology growth, within emerging markets.

In a panel discussion Dr Mesfin Belachew, Advisor to Minister of Ethiopia, Tjekero Tweya, Minister within ICT Ministry Namibia, and Sikelela Dlamini, Principal Secretary, Swaziland, explained how their respective countries had made advances in ICT infrastructure development.

"We are actually thinking of ICT as an enabler to achieve national goals ... we see ICT as a tool to drive us out of poverty. In this regard, in the last few years, we have done a lot in building the BSCI infrastructure, we have achieved a lot, relatively ... today we have grown geographical coverage in telecoms from 20%, to 85%, with 3G and 4G, and (we) now reach 40 million, a 17000km fibre optic ring, and many institutions are now connected,"said Dr Belachew.

Representatives from Angola, Sierre Leone and Namibia reiterated the call for collaboration, the input of both private and public sectors, and the need for a clear policy framework in the enforcement of strategies.

Minister Tweya said it was important that Africa establish manufacturing plants locally in order to use raw materials and use ICT to "really change the lives of people." He also challenged the private sector to review their prices and help governments achieve the goal of affordable ICT rollout.