Malawi to Revoke Telecom Licences of Firms That Shun Rural Areas

Malawi Information and Civic Education Minister Patricia Kaliati warned on Wednesday that the government would revoke licences of information, communication and technology (ICT) companies unwilling to roll out to the rural areas to provide services to the masses there.

Speaking to journalists in Lilongwe on arrival from South Africa where she attended a regional conference on ICT, the minister said that people in Malawi's rural areas have problems in accessing telephone, internet and fax services when carrying out their small-scale businesses because ICT firms have concentrated their business in the urban centres.

"It is high time for ICT companies to invest in rural areas, not just in the cities alone, but in rural areas where people there need their services as well," she said.

The minister added it was giving ICT firms six to nine months to go and invest in the rural areas, failing which government through its regulatory body, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority, would take away their the licences and give them to other companies willing to invest in the rural areas.