Messages from political parties not from us – Telcos

Telecommunication companies in Ghana say unsolicited messages from political parties are not from them.

According to the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT) in a press statement copied to GhanaWeb, the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are politically neutral and that their “policies and principles prohibit the promotion of any political party”.

“As an industry, we are committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure the continued growth of our democracy,” the statement added.

The GTC explained that the political parties mostly rely on content providers to forward bulk SMS transfers on their behalf.

“Content providers build databases of phone numbers from various sources including online, social media, etc. Political Parties have access to data which they get through their own sources including their fundraising activities and other events. [An] Unsolicited Electronic Communications (UEC) may not necessarily come from the operator you use. It could come from any source if your number is part of their targeted database,” the GTC noted.

The Chamber urged customers who receive these messages and would wish to unsubscribe from UECs of any kind to type STOP, press the enter key for one space, type sender's name, and press send to the number from which the message or call came. This will stop the UEC from being received.

“If the UECs persists, contact your service provider to omit you from the promotional list and the Regulator as last resort,” the statement added.

Read below the full statement.