Government says it is on track with support towards digitisation and the digital economy, but there is a need for stakeholder collaboration for an expeditious transition.

This is according to Minister of Information Shadric Namalomba, who was speaking at the GSMA Digital Africa Summit in Lilongwe, saying Malawi has made strides in addressing the connectivity hiccup, but still a lot of people have no access to the Internet 

He says among the challenges, according to the GSMA report, is that most Malawians, about 30 per cent, do not have access to smartphones, hence are not active in the digital space.

“As government, we have tried in other aspects, but what remains is that people should have access to smartphones; that’s why I came with the Minister of Finance so that we ask him to remove other taxes and levies that are contributing to the higher cost of smartphones, thereby not accessible,” he said.

Finance Minister Joseph Mwanamvekha says his ministry will look into all the bottlenecks affecting the digital transition, like taxes among other things, to ensure more Malawians access internet services.

“We are committed as government to invest in digitisation because that is the route we are taking in line with our development blueprint, Malawi 2063. Soon, some of the taxes and levies will be removed once the economy stabilises,” Mwanamvekha said.

The GSMA report indicates that only about 12 per cent of Malawians use the Internet.