National Information and Communications Technology Policy 3.1.3.2 Policy Statements The Government shall:i) Ensure that ICT awareness is created among the public; ii) Embrace ICT as an integral part of national development and empower citizens to use it to fight poverty, ignorance and disease so as to improve the quality of their lives. 3.2 Broadband Access and Infrastructure Development 3.2.1 Issue: Broadband Services Since 2003, the ICT industry has witnessed development of NICTBB, which has connected almost all administrative regional headquarters in Tanzania. During this period, participation of Tanzania in regional integration initiatives has been very active and in 2009 the country witnessed the arrival of two international submarine cables, which have connected Tanzania to the rest of the world with high speed and high capacity ICT network. Landlocked countries have now been linked internationally through Dar es Salaam EASSy and SEACOM submarine landing points. This has therefore made Tanzania a continental hub of communications infrastructure as per the UDSM Bureau for Industrial Cooperation (BICO) 2014 ICT baseline study report. This now calls for a change of policy focus for these infrastructural developments to contribute significantly to socio-economic development of Tanzania. The World Bank report of 2009 acknowledges ICT as a catalyst and enabler for growth of all economic sectors; it can improve efficiency in production and services delivery. It is evidently known that for each 10% penetration of broadband in developing countries, it accounts for 1.38% of GDP growth. Various efforts have been taken by the government, such as investment in ICT infrastructure, construction of NICTBB and creating enabling environment for other actors to invest in infrastructure like EASSY and SEACOM submarine cables; development of PPP policy and legislation; establishment of the Universal Communications Service Access Fund to facilitate ICT investment in rural and urban underserved areas; development of Internet Exchange Points; and establishment of country code top level domain. These efforts have contributed to cost reduction of backhaul transport bandwidth by about 21