CIPESA: What would you consider to be the key achievements of the two World Summits on the Information Society?

Mr. Masambu: The involvement of all stakeholders - government, private sector, civil society, NGOs and the media in the WSIS consultation process; and the global agreement on access and connectivity targets to be achieved by 2015 to enable the realization of the information society. There was also the setting up of a Digital Solidarity Fund to help contribute to bridging the digital divide, and agreeing to establish an inclusive Global Internet Forum to discuss policy issues related to Internet governance.

CIPESA: WSIS Tunis did not quite answer the question of who should finance the bridging of the digital divide.  What are your proposals on this?

Mr. Masambu: The proposed Digital Solidarity Fund is only a voluntary fund. The challenge for us developing countries is to put in place strategies that encourage investment especially in rural and underserved areas, for example Uganda’s Rural Communications Development Fund, and come up with projects that can attract funding from developing partners, such as the East African Submarine cable System.

CIPESA: In your view what is the feasibility and efficacy of regional back-bone infrastructure in East and Southern Africa?

Mr. Masambu: Such a project as EASSy is very vital and commercially viable, as it will significantly reduce the exorbitant cost of satellite bandwidth, which we incur for our international traffic. It will also reduce the large outflow of revenues to other countries outside Africa in form of transit charges even for traffic destined within the region. While we commend the efforts of the private companies who have come together to mobilize the capital required for the project, we are emphasizing the need for the project to be open to allow more players so as to avoid imposing unaffordable tariffs, as we have seen with similar submarine systems such as SAT 3.

CIPESA: Do you think the proposed Internet Governance Forum will assuage the fears of countries and peoples that want more decentralized and international oversight over the Internet?

Mr. Masambu: The proposed forum will only make recommendations that may not be binding to countries, but it is an important step in involving a wide cross-section of stakeholders in the process of making decisions that affect the way the Internet is governed. The feeling of many countries is that the current structure is too restrictive and leaves the USA through ICANN virtually alone to decide on the major issues that affect the way the Internet operates. Uganda strongly supported the creation of the Internet Governance Forum and will actively participate in its deliberations. At a post-WSIS public forum in December last year, we agreed to set up a National Governance Forum, which will form the basis of our participation in the Global Forum.

CIPESA: What policy aspects related to the Tunis WSIS Plan of Action do you think East and Southern Africa need to address for a start as they seek to increase access to and usage of ICTs?

Mr. Masambu: I think it is important that we translate all the agreed commitments into concrete plans for implementation. For issues such as Internet Governance we need to come up with a regional approach on how we follow up the implementation of the decisions, such as participation in the Internet Governance Forum as we normally do in major global events. I can see the East African Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa playing a major role in bringing together the stakeholders in the region as it involves many sectors and not just the Communication ministries.

CIPESA: Does Uganda have specific concerns or experiences to share regarding Internet governance and financing the bridging of the digital divide?

Mr. Masambu: Regarding financing, the region has a lot to learn from Uganda’s experience in the management of the Rural Communications Development Fund which has been internationally acknowledged as one of the most successful PPP initiatives along with those of Chile and Peru. We plan to use a similar strategy in the provision of a national backbone, which we have proposed in the new telecommunication policy. We will continue organizing public consultation meetings on the issues related to Internet governance, the results of which would be the basis of our policies on how we should govern the Internet.