The
Government of Malawi through the Ministry of Information, Civic Education and
Communications Technology in collaboration
with the Public Private Partnership Commission is contracting UbuntuNet
Alliance, the Regional Research and Education Network for Eastern and Southern
Africa, to provide affordable, high speed and reliable connectivity services to
the country’s higher education and research institutions through the Malawi
Research and Education Network (MAREN).
The activity is funded by the World bank through the Digital Malawi
Project.
The Digital Malawi Project is a Government of Malawi project funded
by the World Bank Group to the tune of K52 billion whose objectives are: to extend and improve access to critical connectivity
services especially the Internet for the public and private sectors; to improve
ICT governance in the country; to improve access to government services; and to
facilitate provision of e-services thereby enhancing public service delivery.
MAREN is
a specialized service provider dedicated to the connectivity and value-added
services needs of the Malawi’s higher education and research institutions. It
is an association of the public universities in Malawi which will be extended
to include the institutions from both the public and private sector. It is run
by a board comprising the universities. MAREN was founded in 2005 and is recognized
by the Government of Malawi through the Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology as the country’s National Research and Education Network (NREN). Its
main purpose is to interconnect research and higher education institutions in
Malawi and connect them to their peers globally and to the internet in general to
facilitate research, teaching and learning. Such connectivity will assist our
universities in accessing digital repositories that are available to the rest
of the academic community worldwide, pursue research collaborations across
institutions, nations and continents; access to digital platforms online and
provide a common login across campuses, et cetera.
The PPPC
plays a role of a lead implementing agency in the financing arrangements for the
Digital Malawi Project under the Ministry of Information, Civic Education and
Communication Technology. The ministry owns the project.
Under the contract,
UbuntuNet Alliance will make available 1200 Mbps to MAREN in Blantyre for a
period of 10 years. The capacity will be provided through a newly procured link
between Blantyre and Maputo.
It is against this background that the PPPC has
planned a contract signing ceremony for this milestone. The ceremony will be
held at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre, on 23rd January, 2020
starting from 2 pm.
For further Information please contact:
The Acting Chief Executive Officer
The Public Private Partnership Commission
P.O. Box 937
Blantyre
Tel: (265) 01 823655
Email: Info@pppc.mw
