By Moses Nyirenda

Lilongwe, April 18, Mana: The national survey report on access and use of information and communication technologies by households and individuals in Malawi for 2023 has revealed that 68 percent of the people in the country have access to internet through the use of mobile phones and computers.

The revelation was made on Thursday in Lilongwe during the launch of the survey report which was organized by Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) and National Statistical Office (NSO).

Speaking after launching the survey report, MACRA Director of Economic Regulations, Andrew Nyirenda, said that the percentage of the internet users indicated in the survey report portrays that people in the country are now aware about the benefits of internet.

“According to the data presented on the report of the survey, it shows that a lot of people are now using internet and this means that people are now aware that they can find more information on internet, as well as doing other activities such as businesses and school,” Nyirenda said.

However, he said that through the information presented in the survey report MACRA will lobby government to develop policies that would assist to encourage more people in the country to start using internet.

“We will make sure that the information gathered through the survey should help us to develop policies that would help to attract more people to start using internet services.

“In other countries, 100 percent of the population uses internet, but we are on 68 percent which means we still have a lot of work which we need to do,” he said.

He further expressed optimism that the recent launched survey report would help them as MACRA to come up with the way forward that would help to enhance internet usage among individuals in the country.

Also speaking during the launch of the survey report, NSO Commissioner of Statistics, Shelton Kanyanda, said that the results of the survey they conducted with MACRA would also help MACRA to improve internet connectivity as well reducing the cost of other ICT services in the country.

“This is very important for our colleagues in the regulatory body as you can see the data is collected up to district level, so what we are assuming is that the findings of the survey should be able to improve internet accessibility in different areas where there are challenges.

“They should also be able to reduce prices of other Information and Technology (IT) services the cost shows that it is high; it is very important for our colleagues at MACRA to be able to make adjustments by negotiating with service providers,” Kanyanda explained.

He also said that as NSO they are willing and open to support MACRA in conducting research that would promote the use of internet and IT related services among the people across the country.