1.0 PART I INTRODUCTION This document presents the Government of Liberia’s Policy for the Telecommunications and Information Communications Technology (ICT) sectors. The Government of Liberia (GoL) understands the important role that telecommunications and ICT play in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) policy, which is built on the following four pillars – i. Enhancing National Security ii. Strengthening Governance & Rule of Law iii. Revitalizing the Economy iv. Rehabilitating Infrastructure and Delivering Basic Services Liberia’s ability to accelerate its economic development process, gain global competitiveness and improve the well being of its people depends on the extent to which it can develop, use, and sell telecommunications and ICT services in one form or another. The goal is to integrate telecommunications and ICT services into overall developmental objectives, priorities, and programs. Our school systems, health programs, commercial, national security and government programs including procurement activities shall be transformed using ICT as the effective platform to ensure transparency, efficiency and productivity. ICT shall facilitate the outcomes of the National PRS objectives to accelerate economic growth for sustainable national development. The GoL has embarked on setting a national agenda that involves the telecommunications and ICT sectors to better the lives of its citizens and alleviate poverty through inducing economic activities, improving educational systems and ensuring that citizens are stakeholders in the national policy agenda. This document outlines the strategies to continue liberalization of the telecommunications sector and establish ICT partnerships as a means to improve services delivery and open up new opportunities. The Telecommunications ACT of 2007 redefined the functions and responsibilities of government agencies including the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, the Liberia Telecommunications Authority and the designated National Operator. High level issues of policy-making, regulation enforcements, liberalization, fair competition, universal access, national security and standardization, to name a few, are addressed. The national ICT Policy is to ensure that services and systems are people-centered, universally accessible and cost-effective. The government’s role is to establish a legal regulatory framework and institutional mechanisms to guide the activities of all stakeholders. In summary, these policies are intended to achieve the modernization and rapid expansion of the telecommunications network and communication systems. The goals are to increase productivity; enhance information sharing; and become global stakeholders in the telecommunications and ICT environment. The dynamic nature of modern technology in telecommunications and ICT makes it compelling to periodically review and set new policy guidelines. The policy objective shall be set for five years (2010–2015) in support of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) target to connect the world by 2015, of which the government’s PRS makes up the first two years. 3