Extension of MTN facilities to rural areas stimulate growth

Koforidua, Sept. 12, GNA - The Acting Senior Manager of Corporate Communication of MTN Ghana, Ms Efua Falconar, said the extension of MTN facilities to the rural areas of Ghana had stimulated productivity, increased trade, created wealth and enhanced social welfare in those communities.

She said the facilities had also provided continuous direct employment and generated incomes for large sections of the population. Ms Falconar was speaking at an Editors Forum organized by MTN-Ghana in collaboration with the Eastern Regional Branch of the Ghana Journalists Association and facilitated by STRATCOM Africa on Friday. She explained that recent analysis by Deloite indicated that 10 per cent increase in use of mobile telecommunication leads to 1.2 per cent increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Mr Tigyani Muntaka, Eastern Regional Radio and Transmission Supervisor of MTN, said the company kept on increasing its technological expansion in the region to help improve upon its services to various communities.

He said Tinkong on the Koforidua-Mamfe highway is located in a valley hence the poor reception of MTN services in the area but gave the assurance that the company was in a process of locating a new cell site to help improve reception.

Mr Lawrence Akosen, Quality Assurance Manager of the Customer Care Division of MTN, said the company had activated its "roaming facility" and that anybody using that service could use his or her phone outside the country and need not visit any MTN office for reactivation. He said in December, this year, MTN would launch a new product, the "One World Alliance" under which one could use his or her MTN service all over the world with the use of a guiding booklet indicating which code to use at any given country or zone of the world. Mr Akosen said currently, MTN was testing a system for the provision of mobile TV services adding that at the moment people in certain parts of the country could access 11 Television stations on their mobile telephones. He said MTN customers need not pay more than the face value of their top up cards since the company provided sufficient discounts to the dealers. He therefore called on customers who were forced to pay more than the face values of their top up cards to report to the customer care office of MTN for the necessary action to be taken against the culprits. 12 Sept 09