SECTOR 2 Scores: Individual scores: 1 Country does not meet indicator 2 Country meets only a few aspects of indicator 3 Country meets some aspects of indicator 4 Country meets most aspects of indicator 5 Country meets all aspects of the indicator Average score: 2.2 2.9 The country has a coherent ICT policy or the government implements promotional measures, which aim to meet the information needs of all citizens, including marginalised communities. Even though the government has an ICT Ministry and the Regulatory Authority for Posts and Telecommunications in Congo (ARPTC), there is no policy on ICT. Electricity, which is the source of power for telecommunications and needed in order to allow citizens to access information networks including phones, it is not always available inside the country and even in Kinshasa, the capital. The opportunity to connect to the optic fibre cable and to, like other African countries, make the most of superfast broadband Internet, was – at the time of the deadline on 15 May 2012 – not seized due to a lack of political will. The lack of ICT policy became apparent when mobile phone operators ran specials in order to persuade their customers to communicate advantageously by using the bonus system and government opposing this initiative without bringing forward any reasons. At the same time, the Congolese Post and Telecommunication (OCPT), which should have been the driving force of the ICT policy, is in a state of lethargy and ironically, this is the making of private operators, which hinder the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications’ efforts from developing it. The example brought forward to illustrate this paradoxical situation is the use of the international country code +243, which phone operators allocated to the OCPT and which obliges them to pay the Regulatory Authority for Posts and AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER Democratic Republic of Congo 95