Category Members News

A4AI will be at the upcoming Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation Forum 2015, taking place September 14-16 in Nairobi, Kenya. The event, which is taking place at the margins of the CTO’s 55th Council Meeting, will bring together senior policymakers, regulators, and…

Latin American countries nabbed six of the top ten spots in this year’s Affordability Index. The high ranking of the Latin American countries is not a coincidence.   The region has been leading policy and regulatory innovation in the telecom…

As 2014 winds down, the Nigerian government has revealed that five of the country’s states are working to reduce taxes on, and eliminate multiple taxation of, Information and Communications Technology (ICT).   Earlier this week, the Nigerian Federal Minister of…

The biggest obstacle in expanding broadband access in all of the countries that A4AI works in is the high cost of connecting to the Internet, but in Mozambique, it is a particularly imposing hurdle. According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a fixed-line broadband connection costs almost 51 percent of the average monthly income in the country, and a mobile broadband connection costs 41 percent (ITU MIS 2014).

The A4AI-Ghana Coalition has much to celebrate after the Government committed to abolishing the 20 percent import duty on smartphones, following advocacy by the coalition’s Taxation Working Group. However, as we celebrate, we must also look ahead -- more hard work is needed to achieve the rest of the objectives set by the coalition.

Less than a year after starting work in Ghana, the A4AI-Ghana Multi-stakeholder Coalition has notched up its first big win after the Government committed to abolish import duties on smartphones. This step — confirmed in the 2015 Budget presented this…

A4AI is excited to welcome three new representatives to the Alliance’s Advisory Council:   Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director, UN Women Mike Jensen, Internet Access Specialist, Association for Progressive Communications Marília Maciel, Researcher and Coordinator, Center for Technology and Society of the…

Today, we’re celebrating the Alliance for Affordable Internet’s first birthday (check out our birthday infographic). Our vision of driving access prices down through policy and regulatory reform has resonated, and we’ve made rapid progress since our launch on October 7…

A little over a week ago, I was pleased to represent A4AI as moderator of a keynote panel at NigeriaCom. After listening to the discussion between participants on our panel and others, and chatting to many attendees, I was reassured…

On September 11, 2014, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria hosted an #InternetFreedom chat with our own Nnenna Nwakanma on the topic of increasing affordable broadband access in Nigeria.   Read the chat below and let us know your thoughts!   [View the…

Here at A4AI, we are excited that Nigeria — the first African country to join the Alliance — has formed a national action plan and is working to finalize concrete work plans to tackle some of the policy and regulatory obstacles currently blocking the road to more affordable Internet prices in the country. We recognise, however, that bringing these local stakeholders together is just one piece of the puzzle.

Internet penetration in Nigeria, home to Africa’s largest population and economy, stands today at only 6 percent. Through its National Broadband Plan, Nigeria is working to increase this figure to 30 percent within five years, but a number of major obstacles stand in the way of the country achieving this ambitious goal