Access

Welcome to the 32sd monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks.

On Wednesday 13 January 2021, the eve of Uganda’s general elections, Uganda’s communications regulator UCC ordered telecoms operators and internet service providers in the country to suspend all internet gateways until further notice.

Welcome to the 31st monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks.

With the first day centred around an introduction to basic legal concepts and the ICT law ecosystem, Day 2 of the Internet Rules: Unboxing Digital Laws in South Asia workshop took on more complex issues of meaningful access to the internet and the many facets of privacy.

Over the course of the week from 23 to 27 November 2020, the workshop will cover a variety of topics including ICT laws and jurisprudence, access, infrastructure and internet shutdowns, freedom of expression, gender and vulnerable groups, and legal methodology and process, among others.

This policy brief presents the findings from an evidence-based study that examines the gendered aspects to women’s internet access on mobile broadband connections in Uganda. 

Community-owned networks provide alternative, locally driven and sustainable solutions that are critical in addressing connectivity gaps in Africa. To explore these solutions, the next session of the Virtual Summit on Community Networks in Africa is taking place on 25 November 2020.

This report outlines jurisprudence across the global South on the legality of internet shutdowns. It tackles the growing challenge of government-mandated disruptions of internet access around the world, often under the guise of safeguarding public order and upholding national security interests.