Provision of efficient and affordable telecom ideal - Kufuor

Accra, July 4, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday asked companies involved in the telecommunications sector to ensure efficient and affordable service to the people. He said Ghanaians were awake to join their compatriots in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on the globe. President Kufuor made the call when a delegation from Alcatel Shanghai Bell of China paid a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu. The company had earlier signed a 150-million-dollar contract with Ghana Telecom (GT) for the provision of fixed network and mobile network extension and upgrading over the next three years. Other components of the agreement included the provision of Advance Intelligent Network (IN) Platform to enhance the network services and a fibre optic transmission network for Greater Accra.

The contract is a major procurement exercise to provide a minimum of 650,000 telephone lines to GT customers. President Kufuor commended the Company for its assistance to Ghana to help strengthen the infrastructure base of Ghana Telecom to enable Ghana to join the ICT on the globe. "We count on your efficiency and expect you to give efficient service at affordable cost to Ghanaians for the country to take its place in ICT on the globe."

President Kufuor said Ghana Telecom had been beset with many problems and the government wanted these problems to end. "I hope Alcatel would be a reliable partner in this direction." He said the contract was a milestone in the Ghana-China relationship because it was part of the efforts by China to improve on the socio-economic development of the country in the rail, road and telecommunications sectors.

Mr Yuan Xin, Chairman of the Board of the Company, said the support by the Company was a follow-up to the visit of President Kufuor to China in October last year. He expressed the Company's appreciation to government for the support to realize the dream to assist Ghana in the telecommunications sector. "Its success would depend on the efforts from both the government and the Company."