Dispute Delays GT's Expansion Programme

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Telecom (GT) Mr. Oystein Bjorge has expressed his dissatisfaction with the delay in the implementation of the Telenor Agreement with the government due to the dispute between Telecom Malaysia (TM) and the Government of Ghana.

The CEO revealed this to the Business Chronicle in an interview last Monday in Accra. "The agreement is being delayed by the dispute between telecom Malaysia and the government".


TM, which is one of the major shareholders in GT, is believed to be frustrating the government and GT because of the way the government treated them. TM's consent is needed in the approval of the Telenor agreement before they can proceed with major processes.


It is now a fact that communication between the two parties is non-existent.


It is strange because they are shareholders.


But the CEO said that the dispute between the two parties would not stop them from going ahead with their mission in Ghana.


He said that management of GT is moving on and is trying to draw up contingency plans to get more money out of other activities, which does not require any decision from shareholders like TM. "We are really frustrated", he added. He hoped this impasse would be resolved as soon as possible.

On the fixing of 400,000 new fixed lines before 2005 and the extension of telephone lines to all secondary and tertiary institutions, he said GT is on course.


He said an agreement has been signed last year with a vender to supply them with switches and other radio equipment to start work.


Touching on the petition Communication Centres presented to the ministry of communications, he said the petition was studied thoroughly and a meeting was held with them last week in which the cases were settled amicably.


"We had the opportunity to go through all the issues they raised and some of the issues they raised were based on misconception and we were able to explain most of them".


It was also agreed that they have to work together and that incase any problem crops up it would be resolved through dialogue and not through any other means.


He advised communication centre operators to pay their bills on time or they would risk being disconnected He said there were pockets of issues they need to trash out later after investigations are over.