Gov't will work to reduce internet data cost – Ursula

The government of Ghana will work tirelessly with internet service providers to ensure that the cost of data in the country is reduced to a minimum, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Minister-designate for Communications, has said.

Speaking during her vetting by the Appointments Committee of parliament on Wednesday February 1, she said: “It (the telecommunications sector) is a private sector-led industry and so for us to derive maximum benefits from it, we need to have a good working relationship with them. Thankfully, I have been in the industry before and so the operators know that I understand the dynamics of the industry and will work very hard to ensure that the citizens derive maximum benefits from them, government also gets its tax revenues as and when needed and they also have a conducive environment within which to work.

“The more they prosper, the more taxes they pay, and the better services they provide and everybody will be happy.

“I am not sure if the data is more expensive than it is in the sub region but we need to do whatever we can to reduce the cost assessing the service. And so we will work with the sector operators, the data broadband wireless operators, and mobile network operators themselves to see what we can do where we can derive the synergies which will help drive the cost down.

“As government is investing in infrastructure, it is taking away from them the capital investment they would have had to put in place, so that would also help, once we have put in some of the broadband fibre infrastructure that they need to drive on.”