Context :
While the community network (CN) movement flourishes across Anglophone Africa, Francophone nations face intense barriers caused by language obstacles, missing policy recognition, and commercial pushback. Large Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) often brand small-scale community connectivity projects as illicit competition. In the absence of an enabling legal status, grassroot communities remain locked out from acquiring telecom hardware or spectrum permissions, keeping remote populations digitally isolated.
Project Objectives
-
Quantify and raise multi-national government awareness regarding the localized socio-economic impact of community-owned telecom networks.
-
Map national electronic communications barriers and operational entry points across the regulatory target areas.
-
Draft a structured policy guideline book to help Francophone governments formalize custom non-profit telecom statuses (from hardware type approval to data handling).
-
Execute strategic multi-stakeholder advocacy campaigns targeting regulatory agencies and ministry directors.
Phased Activities and Output Timelines
-
July 2021: Refine processing guidelines with domestic ISOC partners, establish unified email/forum infrastructure, and deploy the web workspace.
-
August 2021: Track down and survey working or prospective local community telecom groups (Output: Partial report mapping operators, field locations, and municipal economic data).
-
August – September 2021: Model economic, healthcare, and educational returns driven by community network deployment in target zones.
-
October – November 2021: Conduct comparative legal audits inspecting telecom codes and spectrum licensing obstructions across the 4 partner nations.
-
December 2021: Author the definitive guidelines and policy recommendations for establishing customized legal designations for bottom-up operators.
-
January – February 2022: Translate the final regulatory model into English and French, launch open-access web repositories, design international advocacy plans, and run high-level policy meetings with national regulators and corporate stakeholders