Minister of Communication, Technology and Innovation Salima Bah has outlined the numerous achievements government has made in the technology space. She was highlighting the achievements during the weekly government press briefing on Tuesday.

Some the achievements she highlighted includes a $132million portfolio of investment over the last six years in the sector, which has had a spillover effect in strengthening the technology infrastructure and ecosystem in the country.

“Government has made significant investment in to the sector, till date government has invested $132 million, in direct investment in to the sector to move the digital transformation agenda forward,” Minister Salima said.

The Minister singled out the President for the support and strategic guidance he has provided for the sector, describing him as the “Chief of Digital Transformation”.

Stating some of the achievements, she said: “75% Fibre Backbone increase from 8 districts to 14 districts, due to 1641km fibre rollout. Our International Bandwidth Capacity has increased by over 525% from 80GB to 500GB. We have 89% increase of Mobile Subscribers, up from 1.2 million users to more than 2.2 million users nationwide,” she highlighted.

Mobile technology like 2G,3G, and 3G coverage are all on the increase. According to Minister Salima, 2G coverage is up from 80% to 96.8%, 3G coverage is up from 60% to over 96.8% whiles 4G coverage is now up to 87% from 35%, representing a stellar progress in the sector.

She said access to mobile internet is considered a human right by the President, hence the focus on ensuring there is coverage for everyone.

“For President Bio, access to mobile and internet services is a basic human right and that is why under his leadership we have had the highest prioritization to roll out strategies on digital transformation,” she said.

“President also understands the potential for economic growth with entrepreneurship in the tech and innovation sector,” she added.

The Ministry of Communication has also succeeded in completing and rolling out a number of policies and strategies which has contributed largely to success in the sector.

“We have implemented the National Innovation Digital Strategy; we have implemented the National Digital Development Policy. We have also passed the National Broadband Strategy, this plan really focuses on how we plan to roll out data access all across Sierra Leone,” Minister Salima explained.

Credit: Ministry of Information, GOSL.