IT News Africa - THE fourth annual 4th Annual Connecting Rural Communities Forum (CRC) organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO) has kicked off in the resort city of Livingstone,
Zambia.
This year’s conference will be in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Communication, Zambia, and is designed to prepare African Information and Communications Technology (ICT) decision-makers for the next steps in driving rural connectivity.

The event is scheduled to end on Thursday and more than 30 presenters from mover 20 countries are expected top participate.

CRC is inspired by former United Nations secretary general Koffi Annan who as far back as June 28, 2003 stated ,“It is precisely in places where no infrastructure exists that wireless can be particularly effective, helping countries to leap-frog generations of telecommunications technology and
infrastructure and empower their people.”

Leading manufacturer of mobile phones, Motorola said it was buoyed by Annan’s comments and is looking forward to a presentation by Andrew Gill, Director of Business Development who will present and speak on Connecting Rural Communities using fixed wireless.
Gill said “It is this vision that Motorola identifies with as we believe that when developing countries are connected by a robust wireless network, their gross domestic product benefits. Better communication also provides access to many social benefits such as education, healthcare, public
safety and entertainment.”

During his address, Motorola said Gill will share insights on how Motorola is helping to bring affordable and reliable wireless services to developing countries that could otherwise not afford it.

“Our participation at this year’s 4th Annual Connecting Rural Communities Forum, is testimony to our commitment to bridge the ‘digital divide’ by ensuring that from our wireless broadband offering, we are able to put significant network bandwidth in rural communities to make progress possible in areas such as education, energy conservation, transportation, healthcare, environmental initiatives etc; areas that are of critical importance for rural communities,” said the company.