By: Foday Manneh
The Gambia Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) is hosting a four-day International Telecommunication Union’s Study Group 12 Regional Group meeting for Africa in Banjul to enhance service delivery in the region.
The regional summit at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre brings together regulators, operators, consumer advocates, and policymakers from across the African continent to discuss critical issues affecting the Quality of Services and the Quality of Experience service delivery.
The forum also allows the attendees to share valuable country-specific case studies and offer practical models to enhance quality service delivery.
The Director General of PURA, Yusupha M. Jobe, said the participants are preoccupied with improving service delivery in their jurisdictions.
“The Regional Meeting does not only avail us the opportunity to converge but has largely informed us of the degree of trust and confidence bestowed on us as regulatory actors in the telecommunication sector,” Jobe said.
“As critical players serving the role of a watchdog, it is vital to gather all relevant players in our collective search for viable and sustainable solutions for the enhanced status of QoS and QoE in Africa,” he added.
While hosting the event for the first time, Mr. Jobe is optimistic that the session’s outcome will be progressive.
The Study Group Advisor of the International Telecommunications Unit (ITU), Martin Adolph, said his organization’s members work together to connect the world and ensure that their interconnection makes a more outstanding contribution to society through meaningful connectivity.
“This 4-day session will focus on universal connectivity, more specifically enabling and fostering universal access to affordable high qualities and secured ICTs,” Adolph said.
The Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy, Lamin Camara, emphasized to the delegates the importance of investing in technology to realize their digital goals.
“Our operators must invest in the latest technologies as that is the only way to achieve the digital economy. So I will applaud them because I know most are moving towards that,” PS Camara acknowledged.
“We have summary table 2012, the national transmission backbone, the national broadband network, and the internet exchange product to localize local tariff, but with all these products, without the quality of services, it becomes meaningless,” he reiterated.
