NewzThe Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, says the government is putting in place measures to make calls and data services on rural telephony networks cheaper by the end of the first quarter of 2027. He said the Ministry was engaging the National Communications Authority (NCA) and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) as well as mobile network operators to review the current charging arrangements and ensure that subscribers using rural telephony sites could benefit from their existing voice and data bundles. The Minister disclosed this on Friday, September 4, when he toured some rural telephony sites in the Akwapim South District and an ongoing cell site at the Koforidua lorry terminal in the Eastern Region.
Areas visited included Dumpong, Nkumkrom, Nsakye and Obosono, as part of a nationwide assessment of telecommunications infrastructure to identify areas requiring urgent intervention. Mr George said, “We have rural telephony largely in our rural communities and when you look at those communities, the economic ability is not like that of the urban area, but call and data on the rural telephony is more expensive than the urban area. It makes no sense to me.” The Minister explained that under the current arrangement, customers with existing voice or data bundles could be charged directly when they connected to a rural telephony site, rather than using their purchased bundles.
He said a policy directive had consequently been issued to reverse the arrangement, with the NCA working with telecommunications operators on the technical integration required to implement the change. “So we’ve given a directive, I’ve given a policy directive to reverse that. The NCA is working with the telecom players to ensure that the necessary technical integrations are done,” he said.
The Minister also announced plans to upgrade rural telephony sites to support at least 4G technology, noting that it was no longer appropriate to provide communities with predominantly 2G and 3G services when the world was advancing towards 5G and beyond. “We must give them at the very least 4G,” he said, adding that government would have to make a deliberate investment in telecommunications infrastructure just as it invested in roads and hospitals. On network expansion, Mr George said mobile network operators were currently u…
The government will upgrade all Rural Telephony Project (RTP) sites across the country to at least 4G capability to improve connectivity and enhance digital services in underserved communities. He said the upgrade formed part of a broader review of the Rural Telephony Project, which the Ministry would soon present to Cabinet. “The world has moved to 5G, getting to 6G, so at the very least we must give 4G to our networks,” he said.
The Minister said this in an interview with the media after inspecting rural telephony sites at Dumpong, Nkumkrom, Nsakye and Obosono in the Akwapim South District, as well as an ongoing cell site at the Koforidua lorry terminal in the Eastern Region. He was accompanied by Dr Edmund Yirenkyi Fianko, Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA); Mr Rashid Tanko Computer, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC); Mrs Rita Akosua Adjei Awatey, Eastern Regional Minister, and engineers from the Ministry, NCA and mobile network operators. The visit formed part of the Ministry’s nationwide assessment of telecommunications infrastructure to identify areas requiring urgent intervention.
Summary from source