LIRNEasia has raised alarm after two camps have ganged up behind the ITU to command and control the Internet. It immediately drew the attention of Africa and CEO Rohan Samarajiva was invited to Ghana. There he explained how the authoritarian governments have planned to put fingers on the Internet’s on/off switch. And ETNO, a club of European state-owned telcos, foolishly aspires to be the robber barons of Internet.
It received wide media coverage and we have posted them in this blog accordingly. Recently the Africa Report, a leading pan-Africa monthly magazine, has published an article on Rohan’s analyses:
“As an international policy advisor on ICT, he emphasised that the proposals could raise the cost of network interconnection, content delivery, and quality of service and that these costs would ultimately be passed along to those least able to afford them or would result in exclusion from the Internet economy. When approved, he added, they would open a door for the creation of a top-down, inflexible international regulatory regime for the internet, much in conflict with the current framework that has enabled growth in access, innovation, entrepreneurship and economic activity…”
“In a related development, Ghana’s Communication Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, said the unfettered access to internet usage must not be negotiated, noting Ghana would not allow any economic cost or value to the internet.
Here is the full article.
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