 |
| Kaliati: this will lead to communication improvement |
The National Assembly on Tuesday has repealed Communications Act of 1998 and replaced it with Bill No. 24 of 2015: Communications which responds to vast changes, upgrades and development in the Communications Sector which rendered the repealed law somehow irrelevant.
New bill has been passed after several consultations and lengthy scrutiny by the Committee on Media, Information and Communications, in which the bill was referred to following its debate in the House on March 1, 2016 after it was brought by the Minister of Information, Communication Technology and Civic Education.
Reacting after passing of the bill, Minister of Information, Patrician Kaliati said this bill will greatly assist Malawi Government to boost internet and mobile network availability across the country particularly to the rural areas not having network.
She said access to network in rural areas will be possible due to penalties set out in the bill to network providers who may intentionally ignore expanding their network coverage to rural areas. She added that where the network providers will fail to do business, Government will quickly come in to provide network through the Access Fund.
“With this all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be met because people will now be able to be connected and thereby easily get various information through their phones, computers and all other devices.” Assured Kaliati
According to Kaliati, Government is also through the bill promoting local participation in the communications sector through local shareholding of 20%.
“We are also looking forward to have at least 20 percent of local shares in the service providers. When we talk about local sharing we are not talking about indigenous Malawians, we are talking about all Malawian citizens those with citizenship and those with passports are all Malawians and all these are entitled to participate into local sharing of service providers.” She said
However Members of Parliament during debate, expressed concern that the objective of promoting local participation in the communications sector through local shareholding as cited in section 35 and 104 of the bill will not be properly advanced due to use of term ‘local shareholding’ instead of ‘indigenous (native) Malawians.”
MP’s were of the view that the use of local shareholding may include shareholding of people that are not indigenous Malawians as the most players in the telecommunications sector in the country are foreign investors. The Clauses 35 and 104 limits the participation of the foreigners to 20 percent and is mainly in financial interest, interest in voting shares or paid up capital.
Although this has been maintained in the bill, the Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communications which scrutinized the bill noted in its report that some stakeholders that were involved did submit that these limitations are unnecessary barriers to entry, and will stifle much needed foreign investment and they recommended exploration of other ways of promoting economic participation by Malawians in these sectors.
Revocation or suspension of licenses in Clause 43 (1) has among others includes circumstances where there is cases of scheme of arrangement. And the bill maintains that the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) shall remain the authority responsible for regulatory, supervising, deal away with competition and consumer protection in the communications sector.
The newly passed law aims at maintaining the relevance of regulating the sector which is dynamic and technology-driven as well as enhance the respect of consumers of communications; bring sanity in the licensing regime; and control the use and pricing in the telecommunications sector.
 |
| Kawale: We have modernised the communication Sector |
“The aim of the bill is therefore to modernize the legal framework by repealing the Communications Act and replacing it with a new law that addresses the challenges being faced in the electronic communications sector, posts, information society and context.” Said Samuel Kawale Chairperson for Parliamentary Committee on Media, Information and Communications
The newly passed Act was passed into law by Parliament in November 1998 and it came into force on 1st March 1999 replacing Malawi Posts and Telecommunications Act, the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation Act and the Radio Communications Act.
Among others the Act put in place regal framework for; the regulation and provision of services in the Communications Sector in Malawi comprising; telecommunications, posts and broadcasting.
The objectives of the bill are: to recognize the convergence of technologies and services for telecommunications, broadcasting and information through the establishment of technology and service-neutral licensing regimes; remove unnecessary barriers to entry and to attract investments and; to facilitate the deployment and use of communications services in the communications sector.
It further encourage adoption of new services and technologies, encourage participation of indigenous Malawians, facilitate the provision of free communications technology activities and ensure the enhancement and respect for consumer protection in the sector.
No comments:
Post a Comment