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| Windhoek Namibia |
The 6th annual
Telecom ICT Summit opened at the Safari Court Hotel and Conference Center this
week under the theme 'ICT an integral part of everyday life'.
Managing
Director of Telecom Frans Ndoroma spoke about ICT becoming an integral part of
life, "Namibia's development requires a communicative structure, which
should be harnessed to achieve real sustainable development for business,
society and the environment as Namibia moves towards Vision 2030" he said.
Minister of
Information and Technology Joel Kaapanda who officiated the event said there
are more cellphone subscribers than there are inhabitants in the country and
that over 500 000 people are now able to access the internet from their phones.
He
also mentioned that the West African Cable System which was launched earlier
this year will aid in helping Telecom Namibia and MTC Namibia in the process of
making their presence known in other countries as well as set a platform for
Namibians to have access to the rest of the world.
The three-day
summit had over 930 participants, including CEO's, business individuals, ICT
Companies and over twelve exhibitors drawn from educational institutions and
private companies including CISCO, AVM Broadband Innovations, Torque IT and
Green Enterprise Solutions.
Chairman
of the Board of Telecom Joseph Litha said that the summit which coincided with
the 20th Anniversary of Telecom Namibia, looked at the revolution that has
transformed the IT and telecommunications sector in Namibia and Telecom
Namibia, as the key player, over the past 20 years.
The summit also
aimed at discussing how to harness the potential of ICT to create an inclusive
society, to promote the development goals of NDP-4, which are the eradication
of extreme poverty and hunger; achievement of universal primary education;
promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women; reduction of child
mortality; improvement of maternal health; to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and
other diseases; and ensuring environmental sustainability.
The summit was
also held in celebration of women and girls in the ICT sector, Kaapanda urged
more women and girls to get involved in the ICT sector and be a part of the
next wave of technology that will make things smaller, cheaper, and smarter and
more user friendly.
Economist
Namibia