Media reports in the country quoted the bank’s officials as saying that their main focus was to assist in the areas of rural access.

On Thursday, World Bank’s board of Executive Directors approved a $ 20 million credit for Malawi’s connection to the submarine cable under the Regional Communications Infrastructure Project (RCIP).

"The main focus of the World Bank assistance is in the areas of rural access. We are providing in these areas subsidies to operators to go to areas which otherwise would remain unserved," said the bank’s economist for global information and communications technologist Peter Silarszky.

Another country which has received the bank’s support is Mozambique. The country is said to have received $ 31 million.

The money is part of a total $151 million approved for Malawi, Tanzania and Mozambique to boost access to telecoms services in the three countries.

"The other area which we support is the government network. We will provide some equipment and connectivity for government offices mainly in Dar es Salaam and also other parts of the country," said Silarszky.

The aid is also said to be the third phase of the RCIP which will cost World Bank $ 424 million to help countries in Eastern and Southern Africa increase the availability of reliable and high capacity communication services for citizens, businesses and governments.

The African continent is reported to have the world’s lowest telephone and internet user penetration and highest costs.

A Reuters report was quoted as saying that the money given to Tanzania will also help boost the country’s computer use in the health sector, registration of births and deaths and businesses, and make it possible to access land registration records using Web sites and phone text messages.

Tanzania’s access to the internet especially in rural areas is still small.

The World Bank’s latest aid to Tanzania brings the total funding for the southern African country to about $ 590 million cleared this month.