Africa Internet Governance Forum 2022

In the COVID-19 era, community networks are playing an increasingly important role in meeting the rising demand for affordable connectivity. In Africa, community networks are usually more than telecommunications infrastructure providers; they exist in support of economic and social activities, often aiming to minimise the outflow of economic value leaving the community to pay for connectivity services. Beyond access, they also create a platform that promotes building local capacities, as well as the creation and distribution of locally relevant content. Objective of this session is to explore the existing policy and regulatory environments in Africa, how such policies
and regulations are affecting the emergence and growth of Community Networks in the region, identify best practices from countries that are making progress in creating an enabling policy and regulatory environments for Community Networks and identify some of the middle-ground approaches that would enable regulators and policymakers to create supportive environments for Community Networks.