The government yesterday signed a multi-billion-shilling contract with Avanti Communication, a UK-based company, to connect all public schools and district hospitals with internet services in a move meant to bolster education and health services.
To start with, the contracted parties will connect 250 public schools and 150 district hospitals with the services.
The firm will also set up 25 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) academies in various areas of the country for the training of teachers to man the various units in the facilities.
The cost of connecting the public schools is 8bn/- (USD4.5m) whereby 10 schools will be connected in each region. He would not mention the schools.
Signing the contract in Dar es Salaam, Universal Communications Services Access Fund (UCSAF) Chief Executive Officer, Eng Peter Ulanga said in the first phase, the project will focus on connecting the schools and the hospitals will be connected in the second phase.
The fund had been involved in long negotiations with the British firm aimed at streamlining of public schools and the internet in a project known as School Connectivity, he said.
Eventually, he added, the pact was reached whereby a total of 250 public schools have been included in the project and 25 ICT training centres, all to be established for the purpose of training school teachers.
Avanti is a company which deals in selling satellite data communication services to telecoms companies, he said.
Implementation of the project is expected to come to completion within a year from now, Ulanga said.
“We are expecting to connect 150 district hospitals with internet services that would ease provision of telemedicine services. We have also formed a committee to ensure that every district hospitals is connected with the services too, “he said.
So far they have connected six hospitals with telemedicine services. They include Muhimbili, Bagamoyo, Amana, Tumbi and Temeke, he said.
Meanwhile, UCSAF inked the pact with communication service providers for the extension and provision of basic telecommunication services to 102 wards in phase two of the project for a total subsidy of 14.2bn/- (USD7.6m) and 10 wards in Border and Special Zone projects worth 2.7bn/- (USD1.5m).
Ulanga said that the number of wards which will be reached following the signing of the contract has almost doubled from 86 to 112.
Once these projects have been accomplished, he said, they will be a great achievement to the nation in communication services provision.
According to Ulanga, the government is working hard to make sure that every part of the country, especially the rural areas, is easily accessed through communication services.
“Though it is a herculean task, our intention is to connect communities with all forms of communication services so that the rural areas also get internet services for their daily usage,” he stressed.
Seconding Ulanga, Communication, Science and Technology minister Prof Makame Mbarawa said such is good progress in that it intends each community to be reached with communication services.
“The government acknowledges the work being done by telecommunication providers in their efforts to connect the rural areas with communication services. It is the UCSAF’s responsibility to make sure that the community benefits from such services in the country,” he said.
For his part, UCSAF Acting Board Chairman Prof John Nkoma said that it is of great achievement to see that each community accesses communication services for its social and economic development.
Prof Nkoma noted that taking communication services to rural areas is one of the major benefits that connect them with the rest of the nation.
“Though we have made a remarkable achievement in the area of communication, I would like to caution the society on the misuse of the internet. Our experience has shown that majority of the community do not use internet for the intended purpose,” he said.
The telecoms companies which signed the contract include Vodacom, Tigo, Tanzania Telecommunication Limited (TTCL) and Airtel.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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