The Ghanaian government under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications has launched the Rural Telephony Project which aims to provide voice and data services for over 3.4 million people in underserved and unserved communities. The project which is in partnership with Huawei is expected to improve the lives of rural dwellers and bring them to level with many in urban areas. This initiative, in partnership with China National Technical, is expected to save the government up to 70% of the cost of traditional cell sites and extend the national mobile communication coverage from 83% to 95% – greatly accelerating local economic development whiles improving people’s livelihoods.
The Ghanaian President, Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo-Addo says that “Government is committed to ensuring that every Ghanaian, irrespective of tribe, religion, class, location or identity has access to affordable and reliable voice and data connectivity”.
“To this end, the Ministry of communications and the Ghana Investment Fund for Electrical Communication (GIFEC) working in partnership with mobile network operators, like MTN, Vodafone and Huawei is rolling out a rural telephony project to provide data and voice connectivity to 2016 rural telephony sites, strategically located in underserved and unserved communities across the country.”
Ursula Owusu- Ekuful, the Ghanaian Minister of Communications notes that “no one, irrespective of their financial, economic, social status or location should be deprived of access to quality telephony services hence government’s keen interest in making sure that the project is delivered successfully and they intend to roll out 1000 sites by December”.
“I must congratulate GIFEC, Huawei and the Mobile Network Operators for working together to deliver this project. As policymakers, we will continue to provide leadership in implementing solutions and programs to facilitate rural connectivity.”