Times of Zambia: GOVERNMENT says it has embraced the use of information and communication Technology (ICT) as it will reduce the cost of doing business and enhance economic development.
Minister of Communications and Transport Geoffrey Lungwangwa said the Government had embraced ICT because it played a vital role in the attainment of social and economic development.
 

“In line with the goals of my Government’s Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) and the Vision 2030, we are investing in ICT infrastructure. This is more the reason why my Government through Zamtel has invested in the EASS project,” professor Lungwangwa said.
 

He said this in Livingstone yesterday when he opened the 12th East Africa Submarine Cable System (Eassy) management committee meeting at Livingstone’s Zambezi Sun Hotel.
 

Prof Lungwangwa said Africa was blessed with abundant natural resources yet it still lagged behind in development and that the world over had accepted that ICT played a key role in social and economic development.
 

He said the FNDP and the Vision 2030 outlined Zambia’s policy interventions, strategies and programmes and that the increased activities in the mining, agriculture and other sectors continued to stimulate the need for ICT services.
 

The minister said he was pleased with the progress of the project implementation, having been informed that the marine survey, which commenced on December 9, 2008, had been completed.
He was also happy that more than 40 per cent of the cables for the project had been manufactured and the terminal station equipment and repeaters were being manufactured.

It was gratifying that the cable system would be ready for operation by mid next year and expressed confidence that when fully implemented, the project would be a catalyst to improve the quality of life among the people in the region.

The minister said the cable system would stimulate socio economic development of the region through expansion of inter-Africa trade apart from reducing the cost of doing business and the digital divide.

Prof Lungwangwa also said in line with the national ICT policy, Zamtel was constructing the national fibre backbone to interconnect Zambia with neighbouring countries and the rest of the world through Eassy.
“My Government is confident that these projects will facilitate applications such a telemedicine, e-education, e-governance and e-commerce to mention but a few, thereby facilitating attainment of the millennium development goals (MDGs),” the minister said.