President orders mobilisation of USF

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has issued an instruction to operationalise the nation’s universal service fund (USF) within ‘a reasonable timeframe’. The USF was established through framework law No. 013/2002 of 16 October 2002 on Telecommunications (amended and promulgated in 2020) and is financed by a levy of 3% of the gross revenue of telecom operators. The fund aims to ensure that the majority of the Congolese population have access to mobile services. The president noted that the non-implementation of the system had so far prevented the ‘effective management’ of the collected funds. The instruction calls for the utilisation of the fund to take into account the ‘current configuration of the digital ecosystem’ to optimise the mobilisation of the funds for infrastructure projects that will promote universal access to information and communication technologies, at affordable rates, to all citizens.