Government to ban copper export - Minister

Dr Omane Boamah, Minister of Communications, has said government shall soon present a draft bill to Parliament to ban the exportation of copper from the country.

He said the legislation, when it becomes a law, would reduce the theft of communication cables and help improve the services of communication companies in the country.

Dr Boamah said this during a working visit to the Office of Vodafone Ghana Limited and Vodafone Network Operations Centre on the Spintex Road.

He said the visit was in response to the emerging challenges faced by the companies and the mounting concerns raised by the citizenry when making mobile phone calls.

Dr Boamah said the issue of cable theft was of great concern to Government and that National Security was carefully monitoring the situation.

He said his ministry will soon start a year-long awareness programme to educate Ghanaians about the dangers and impact of cable thefts, and this will be done in collaboration with the mobile network companies.

Dr Boamah, however, appealed to the Mobile Communications Companies to re-invest their profits in to their operations to ensure improvement in the quality of service to the citizenry.

Nana Yaa Ofori-Atta, Head of External Affairs, said Vodafone Ghana would collaborate with Government to promote Information Communication Technology in the country.

She said the company’s subscriber base had since April 2008 quadrupled from 1.5 to 5.6 million.

Nana Ofori-Atta said Vodafone Ghana had experienced about 30 cable thefts in May 2013 which had led to the disruption of services to the Osu Castle and the Parliament House in Accra.