It is estimated that currently there are approximately 2,116 km of fiber (RCIPMW report) deployed within Malawi, the majority belonging to the one major telecommunications provider, MTL. ESCOM has also set up fiber on its electricity lines which it contracts out to Service providers. The fiber runs, however, are not complimentary. There is much duplication and parallel build-out along the same locations, leaving the majority of the poor rural sector yet to be served with an adequate primary fiber optics backbone. In enhancing infrastructure and connectivity, network development and build out in unserved and under-served communities is therefore essential. Another key area of focus will be to convene a national infrastructure taskforce to examine infrastructure requirements for the information society. Key Initiative 1.3: Building Information Society Governance Capacity to Ensure Availability of Internet Resources and viability of the Internet Economy This Key Initiative focuses on the global Internet landscape that shapes and influences the evolution and existence of interconnectivity between the domestic and international ICT infrastructure and services. These services allow Malawi’s citizens to actively participate and utilise ICT in the evolving global knowledge-based society. Emphasis for physical interconnection will be on: a) Encourage the interconnectivity of upcoming service providers and others to the established domestic Internet eXchange Point (IXP) to facilitate domestic Internet traffic exchange and encourage and increase the amount of locally hosted content and services. b) Provision of a direct international connectivity to Sea Cable and development of routing diversity and redundancy to ensure network resilience in the instance of disasters. c) Establishment of alternative carrier for the purpose of co-location of international 46