SB: Telecommunications and ICT Development Project

closed

The Telecommunications Technical Assistance Project aims to facilitate increased access to a wide variety of reliable and affordable telecommunications services for the majority of the Solomon Islands population through efficient and well-regulated competition. There are four components to the project, the first component being sector policy support. This component comprises technical assistance for the Ministry of Communications and Aviation (MCA), in consultation with other ministries and agencies as appropriate, to develop a policy capability for telecommunications, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in a broader sense. The second component is the regulatory support. This component comprises operational support as well as advisory assistance and capacity-building for the telecommunications commission. The third component is the technical assistance for universal access. This component will likely commence after year three once the commercial rollout of telecommunications infrastructure and services is more clearly established. The program will be sustained through the use of the two percent universal access (UA) levy established under the act which will be activated after 2014. Finally, the fourth component is the project management.