Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have become the lifeblood of the knowledge economy, or as some observed, the electricity of the 21st Century. The goal of the ICT Sector Plan is to ensure that every Member State citizen has full access to this vital resource. The region has stepped up its momentum in the development of regional infrastructure in the field of ICT. The irony is that while it is possible to reach the required capacity in this sector, progress is constrained by a lack of complementary infrastructure, particularly energy. INFORMATION and COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICT) An analysis of the current status of ICT further reveals that one of the main shortfalls is that although most of the underlying infrastructure is in place, it is not efficiently utilised. Landlocked SADC Member States still pay more to get their traffic to the coast or to the rest of Africa than they do to get from the coast to Europe, the United States or Asia. National fibre optic backbones in many SADC Member States require improved management, upgrading and extension to cover more of the population, at affordable prices. It is evident that due to limited development of traffic exchange points, much domestic and regional traffic is exchanged overseas, leading to poor network performance and millions of dollars in transit fees annually paid to foreign operators. As a result, high access costs prevail across the region, severely limiting use, especially for broadband services, among the general public. This in turn constrains demand for the development of local applications and services, resulting in the continued use of inefficient manual processes. The current status of ICT in SADC can be summarised as follows: • Average mobile uptake is 60% of the population, the range is from 20% to 100%; • 6% of total voice subscribers are fixed line holders, underlining the importance of mobile networks; • 4% of SADC residents are internet users with a wide variation between Member States, from 1% in the DRC to 40% in the Seychelles; • Less than 25% of the borders between neighbouring SADC Member States directly exchanges Internet traffic; • There is a 5% annual decline in postal mail volumes due to e-mail and private carriers, which matches the global trend; • Postal services handle 96% of domestic letters and 80% of international letters, but only 28% of domestic parcel service and 20% of international parcel service; and • Globally, parcel mail is increasing as a result of e-commerce and SADC may experience this soon, but as shown above this business could go to private couriers. The Sector Plan goals are based on always-on, affordable connectivity, rich content and useful applications, with easy to use access devices and postal systems. With a 4% per capita Internet user base in 2011, the assumption is that this would reach 20% by 2027 (reaching 80-90% of households and businesses with access). In order to ensure the achievement of this goal by 2027, there is a need for rapid and concerted efforts by all stakeholders. It will require the strong commitment of governments, with the allocation of clear roles and responsibilities on the basis of a systematic approach, to eliminate bottlenecks and identify the best methods to move forward. The framework for this strategy 10 Executive Summary