Ghana and Burkina Faso provided a positive narrative in the internet rights landscape in West Africa in the first quarter of 2019 as governments granted 4G licenses to Telecom companies in a move that is set to expand the boundaries of internet penetration and improve services in the countries.
While Vodafone were the beneficiaries in Ghana, it was Orange that was granted the coveted license in Burkina Faso. The sector ministers of the respective countries expressed confidence that the 4G network, when activated, would provide a major boost to telecom services, particularly, data services and produce a ripple effect on economic development.
In other positive developments, two major elections were held in February in Nigeria and Senegal without any major abuses on social media. More critically, the governments of the two countries did not witnessed disrupted the internet as was widely feared.
The January – March edition of the MFWA’s quarterly internet report titled West Africa Internet Rights Monitor covers seven countries – Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritania, Nigeria and Senegal.
Four out of the seven countries recorded incidents of digital right violations. A total of four incidents were recorded during the quarter. These incidents were mainly arrest, detentions or sentencing of journalists and bloggers .
Kindly read the full report here.
