- Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa advocates for making educational websites accessible to all children and students for free
- He stressed the importance of zero-rating educational websites to benefit learners from disadvantaged backgrounds
- Tayebwa also called for a ban on access to pornography, citing its negative impact on society and families
While speaking at the launch of CanalBox– Group Vivendi Africa (GVA) Uganda, an internet service provider (ISP), Tayebwa stated that zero-rating educational websites will allow learners from disadvantaged backgrounds to utilise the benefits of internet resources free of charge.
"While my child can afford internet access, many children in rural Wakiso and other similar areas would greatly benefit from free access to educational resources," he said.
He also called for a ban on access to pornography, adding that it is a danger to society and families. He noted that the United Arab Emirates set a high moral code, safeguarding families from harmful content.
"Pornography adds no value to our economy and contributes to the breakdown of families. In countries like Dubai, pornography is banned, leading to stronger family structures,” he said.
What is zero rating?
Zero-rating is when an ISP applies a price of zero to the data traffic associated with a particular application or class of applications (and the data does not count towards any data cap in place on the internet access service).
For example, if an internet access service does not charge a user for the data used to access a specific music streaming application or all music streaming applications, then the ISPs is zero-rating those applications.
This means that ISPS CAN offer access to educational websites without charging for data.