THE ICT POLICY AND STRATEGY 1.1 INTRODUCTION This document sets out the 5-year 2019-2024 National ICT Policy and Strategy which provides the framework needed to leverage the benefits of ICTs to support the social and economic development of Somali society. The goal of this Policy is to facilitate Somalia’s digital transformation to a knowledge-based and inclusive society, and to accelerate socio-economic development toward fulfilling the Sustainable Development Goals. This ICT Policy and Strategy (the Policy) outlines priorities and areas of intervention to support the development of the ICT sector and to help meet overall socioeconomic development goals. The broad areas of focus over the five year period are: 1. Access - Cost of connectivity and coverage of networks 2. Domestic digital infrastructure – interconnection/IXPs, local hosting, domain names, quality of service, cyber security 3. 4. Citizen / consumer protection – e-commerce, privacy, child protection Human resource development – digital literacy, ICT skills, e-education, R&D 5. Content – local media online, applications and financial services, 6. e-Gov – Government interconnection and open data, public e-services (e-government, e-health, e-agriculture and e-education). In this respect the key overarching goals of the Policy are therefore: i To develop the critical ICT ecosystem components needed to empower Somalia’s citizens with ICTs and to open up the potential for new business opportunities, thereby helping to achieve the socio-economic development goals of the National Development Plan (2017-19) ii To speed up Somalia’s use of ICTs to support increased economic and social activity, in banking and financial services, communications, health and education iii To achieve full mobile coverage and correct the significant disparities in access and affordability to ICT infrastructure and services both within and beyond the urban centres, in line with the Somali Infrastructure Strategic Plan (2019-2063). This would incude deployment of required ICT infrastructure in all the Regional States In 2017, the Federal Republic of Somalia passed the National Communications Law which established the regulatory authority - the National Communications Agency (NCA) - defining its structure, decision-making procedures and the key areas of its responsibilities. The National Communications Law lays the basis for a competitive and enabling regulatory environment that recognises the need to ensure citizens have access to voice, broadband and postal communication services throughout the country. 7