infrastructure that provides affordable broadband connectivity and accelerates socio-economic development; 2. To connect all national and county government networks to the national fiber backbone; 3. To provide reliable, accessible, secure and reasonably priced international ICT Infrastructure; 4. To ensure every part of Liberia is serviced by the most appropriate and efficient technology. It is imperative that Liberia has pervasive and affordable ICT Infrastructure in order to support national development goals and global competitiveness. This policy identifies the means to address the critical priorities to facilitate sector growth and development. To help address the limited availability and high cost of ICT infrastructure in Liberia the national ICT policy focuses on the following areas: i. International & National ICT backbones and Broadband infrastructure; To ensure there is sufficient access to international and national broadband capacity in Liberia, virtually every wireless base station in the country will need to be connected to a reliable backbone network that has at least two physically independent domestic and international links. This will require a pervasive national fiber backbone with redundant loops, connected to the ACE cable and to the international capacity available across Liberia’s borders. This infrastructure needs to be available to all commercial networks at wholesale prices, which will be minimized through infrastructure sharing regulations and dig-once policies (see below). In addition, international capacity will be provided to the civil service, health sector and the envisaged education and research network, through government’s share of the backbone infrastructure. ii. Last Mile Solutions There is an increasing demand for high capacity internet in homes, offices and other such locations across the country. Building a fiber network as a national backbone does not in itself address these needs. A robust strategy to deliver fiber or high capacity fixed wireless links to individual end users will be required. LTA will issue the requisite licenses to enable firms to compete with operators in delivery of fixed links to end users, to achieve the objective of ensuring access to high capacity last mile solutions. iii. Rights-of-Way (ROW) Connectivity has become a critical national priority and every household, business, institution and other such person deserves to have such access. Obtaining rights-ofway by operators, firms and their designees to use public space in delivering connectivity to end users must be rapid, and fees for use must be cost based. The policy encourages private landowners to work with operators in facilitating the building of masts or laying of fiber through their private land. Standards, codes and reporting requirements for ROW need to be established and be easily accessible and transparent. 31