Mozambique’s National Communications Institute (INCM) called this Tuesday (17) for an increase in contributions to the Universal Access Service Fund (FSAU), with the aim of expanding telecommunications infrastructures and services in rural areas and for the most disadvantaged social strata, Lusa reported .
According to Euclides dos Santos, head of the INCM’s regulatory division, ‘as a rule, telecoms service operators must contribute 1% of their gross revenue to the FSAU in order to be eligible for resources from this account intended to fund telecoms projects and infrastructure in rural, peri-urban, remote and underserved areas’.
The appeal was made at the end of a public consultation meeting on the proposal to revise the FSAU regulations, with the aim of increasing funding capacity to cover the growing telecommunications needs in the country’s less developed regions.
On the occasion, dos Santos emphasised that the entry of new operators into the Fund is essential to make up for the shortfall in infrastructure and services in rural areas, noting that only entities that contribute to the FSAU are eligible for funding.
‘Only organisations that contribute to this mechanism are eligible for funding from the Fund, which has meant that several have already requested their contribution,’ he explained.
Currently, tower builders, network installation and maintenance companies, as well as mobile and fixed telephony operators, are among the potential contributors to the FSAU. However, they are excluded from contributing under the current regulation, a situation that the proposed revision aims to change, allowing more participants to join and increasing the financial resources available.
The proposed revision of the regulation also includes changes to the fund’s governance structure, with the introduction of an advisory committee that will be responsible for proposing the general strategy for the application of resources. This committee will also suggest infrastructure projects and communications services to be financed by the fund.
To come into force, the new version of the regulation, which provides for the inclusion of telecommunications operators and service providers, television signal distributors, internet and data providers, as well as class C telecommunications licence holders, all linked to the construction of towers and the installation and maintenance of mobile and fixed telecommunications networks, must be approved by the Council of Ministers.
