The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI)—the world’s broadest technology sector coalition will on Thursday, September 10, 2020 hold a virtual forum on Zoom to discuss how to secure Ghana’s digital future through innovative internet technology and partnership.
The forum, slated for 13.00hours to 14.30hours Ghana Time, will brings together prominent players from government, the private sector, and civil society to work to reduce the cost of a broadband connection and enable billions more to come online.
A4AI-Ghana is making affordable access possible by advocating for policy and regulatory reform in four key areas – infrastructure sharing and open access, taxation, consumer advocacy and pricing transparency, and research and data collection.
The pursuit of policy reforms in those four areas in informed by studies in some 70 countries, which revealed that more than half of the world’s population – 3.6 billion – are not online because they simply cannot afford it, and for 2.5 billion people, they cannot even afford the cheapest smartphones to get access.
The studies also showed that for even those who have the devices to access the internet, a greater majority do not have stable internet connectivity. A4AI has therefore been working with governments and international organizations such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to fix that anomaly.
The Ghana Zoom meeting is open to all stakeholders committed to promoting policy and regulatory reform to make affordable internet possible in Ghana.
Click here to register
Tentative Agenda
TENTATIVE AGENDA
| Time | Topic | Speaker |
| 13h00 – 13h05 | Check-in | Onica N. Makwakwa A4AI Head of Africa |
| 13h05 – 13h15 | Welcome
 Introduction of Program & Speakers |
Dr. Kwaku Ofosu-Adarkwa A4AI-Ghana National |
| 13h15 – 13h30 | KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Trends in Innovative Technology & Science: Bridging the Gender Digital Divide
|
(invited) Honorable Minister Prof. Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, Honourable MinisterÂ
Ministry of Science, Environment, Technology and Innovation (MEST&I)Â |
| 13h30 – 14h00 | Panel Presentations & Dialogue
New Partnerships and New Technologies in Deploying Last Mile Connectivity in Ghana: Lessons and Opportunities
|
Invited:
Mr. Kofi Asante, Administrator, Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications Huawei-Ghana GISPA |
| 14h00 – 14h20 | Q & A – Round 1 | Moderator & Participants on Video |
| 14h20 – 14h25 | Panel Closing Remarks |
Click here to register for the online session.  A unique link to the video conference will be sent to each registered participant.Â
Participate in this conversation, we invite you to send your question(s) and/or comment(s) in advance via email to onica.makwakwa@webfoundation.org.
