“At Facebook, we look forward to working with other CTO members in promoting technology as a useful tool for greater economic and social inclusion,” said Simon Milner, Facebook’s policy director for EMEA.
“We are also looking forward to further collaboration with the CTO on privacy and safety issues.”
Lasantha De Alwis, ICT development director at the CTO, added: “The CTO is pleased to welcome Facebook as member, and we are confident that more regular engagement with the company will add value to the entire membership of the CTO.”
The news comes after Commonwealth ministers, who meet every two years, endorsed CTO’s 2016-2020 strategic plan and also supported CTO’s plans to assess the impact of over-the-top (OTT) players in the Commonwealth markets.
A declaration, released on 14 June, states: We “endorse the strategic plan for the CTO for 2016 – 2020, noting in particular the focus on ICT regulation, affordable and universal broadband including bridging the digital divide, and ICT applications.”
The plan is structured around six strategic goals, which includes: promote enabling regulatory environments in key areas such as licensing, spectrum management, quality of service and OTT operators; promote affordable universal and high-quality broadband connectivity; promote a culture of cybersecurity and effective cyber governance through the establishment of a cybersecurity frameworks, standards and guidelines.
The CTO has a four-tier membership structure: Commonwealth organisations, international and regional organisations, private sector, and civil society and not-for-profit organisations and associations.
Other ICT industry members include: Avanti Communications Group, Bitek, BOFINET, BT, Broadband Infraco, Eutelsat, Galaxy Backbone, Intelsat, Promethean, PwC London, Safaricom, Sentech, SES and Vodafone.
