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PART I
INTRODUCTION
This document presents the Government of Liberia’s Policy for the Telecommunications and Information
Communications Technology (ICT) sectors. The Government of Liberia (GoL) understands the important
role that telecommunications and ICT play in the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) policy, which is built
on the following four pillars –
i. Enhancing National Security
ii. Strengthening Governance & Rule of Law
iii. Revitalizing the Economy
iv. Rehabilitating Infrastructure and Delivering Basic Services
Liberia’s ability to accelerate its economic development process, gain global competitiveness and
improve the well being of its people depends on the extent to which it can develop, use, and sell
telecommunications and ICT services in one form or another.
The goal is to integrate telecommunications and ICT services into overall developmental objectives,
priorities, and programs. Our school systems, health programs, commercial, national security and
government programs including procurement activities shall be transformed using ICT as the effective
platform to ensure transparency, efficiency and productivity. ICT shall facilitate the outcomes of the
National PRS objectives to accelerate economic growth for sustainable national development.
The GoL has embarked on setting a national agenda that involves the telecommunications and ICT
sectors to better the lives of its citizens and alleviate poverty through inducing economic activities,
improving educational systems and ensuring that citizens are stakeholders in the national policy agenda.
This document outlines the strategies to continue liberalization of the telecommunications sector and
establish ICT partnerships as a means to improve services delivery and open up new opportunities.
The Telecommunications ACT of 2007 redefined the functions and responsibilities of government
agencies including the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, the Liberia Telecommunications
Authority and the designated National Operator. High level issues of policy-making, regulation
enforcements, liberalization, fair competition, universal access, national security and standardization, to
name a few, are addressed.
The national ICT Policy is to ensure that services and systems are people-centered, universally accessible
and cost-effective. The government’s role is to establish a legal regulatory framework and institutional
mechanisms to guide the activities of all stakeholders.
In summary, these policies are intended to achieve the modernization and rapid expansion of the
telecommunications network and communication systems. The goals are to increase productivity;
enhance information sharing; and become global stakeholders in the telecommunications and ICT
environment.
The dynamic nature of modern technology in telecommunications and ICT makes it compelling to
periodically review and set new policy guidelines. The policy objective shall be set for five years
(2010–2015) in support of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) target to connect the world
by 2015, of which the government’s PRS makes up the first two years.
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