GHANA TELECOMS TO EXPAND OPERATIONS

The Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited (Telecoms) has been contracted by the government to connect 25,000 homes and institutions throughout the country this year .

The company is also expected to provide additional 50,000 lines in each subsequent year until the year 2001 . At the moment , Ghana ,with a population 17.7 million has about 79,000 telephones , which is woefully inadequate . The western Regional Director of Ghana Telecoms , Mr. A. Eniinful announced this at a ceremony to commemorate the 29th World Telecommunications Day at Takoradi last Saturday.

Mr. Enninful said the new management of the compaims at doubling the existing outlet with a vision to make the company a model in the West African sub- region , as a viable business entity . He said It is proposed that in the Western Region alone , 18,391 lines would be provided within the same period to augment the existing 4,423 lines .

The Regional Director said the analogue exchanges at Axim and Tarkwa are expected to be replaced with new ones to be installed at district centers and other strategic locations in the region .

The Western Regional Minister, Mrs. Esther Lily Nkansah , who was the guest speaker stressed the need for people to recognise the role telecommunications play to derive maximum benefit from it in times of natural disasters . In a speech read on her behalf by Mr. PC Ayensu, Presiding Member of the Shama Ahanta East District Assembly, Mrs. Nkansah said Ghana Telecoms has been privatised , as part of government's telecommunications Sector Reform Policy , to allow for Greater efficiency and help accelerate telecommunications services expansion in the country. Mrs. Nkansah said the objective of this reform policy is not only to achieve rapid expansion of the national fixed telephone network, but to make it efficient to boost economic activity and foster rapid development.

The Deputy Minister of Lands and Forestry , Mr. Richard Dornu Nartey, who chaired the function stressed the need for more private sector involvement in telecommunication services as a means to reduce costs.