RE: Jubilate Not, Glo Has Lots Of Problems”

THE CITIZEN PUBLICATION

P.O.BOX 01349

OSU- ACCRA

Dear Editor,

GHANAIANS CAN STILL JUBILATE, GLO IS ON TRACK - RE: Jubilate Not, Glo Has Lots Of Problems”

BY PRINCE NTIAMOAH BOAMPONG, EXCUTIVE DIRECTOR OF FRIENDS OF GLO GHANA

A Rejoinder of “THE CITIZEN” Publication Dated 31st May, 2011, titled

Damage repair can be ten times expensive than creating a good corporate image. We are very much disappointed and wish that you apologize for a publication like the one carried out by your paper “THE CITIZEN” ON May 31, 2011 about GLO Ghana. The caption to us was harsh and injurious “JUBILATE NOT, GLO HAS LOTS OF PROBLEMS, ….Nigerian Communication Experts Advises Ghanaians, was vague since the article failed to mention the credentials of the said expert. The information that can be gleaned from your article is a letter your establishment intercepted, which to us, was woefully inadequate to convey the full import of your caption.

To break down your publication for proper forensic test, the introduction will be considered first. Advising Ghanaians not to jump and jubilate over the launch of GLO 1 is uncalled for given the positive telecommunication service Nigeria itself has enjoyed. Your introduction and choice of words such as ’ heart attack’ and ’utmost disappointment’ are totally misleading and an indictment on the corporate image of a company which has been sponsoring Premier Leagues in Ghana for the past two years, though it is yet to begin its operations, particularly when existing operators in the market shy away from such responsibility.

The most outrageous aspect of the article is with regard to GLO’s internet service. No internet service provider (ISP) in the world will guarantee a 100 percent uptime.

And merely using GLO’s internet services to measure the overall performance of the company was rather unfortunate. GLO 1 is just one of the many products Ghanaian customers will enjoy. The attack on GLO’s internet is very unfortunate since GLO has singlehandedly connected the United Kingdom and West Africa with a 9,800 km submarine cable which has sixteen landing points in Europe. North and West Africa have been integrated with over 10,000 km optic fiber cable of GLOBACOM nationwide. This means that Nigerians, from wherever they, are can now enjoy ultra fast Internet services. Your said letter was before the advent of this life saving product, a product which cost a whopping USD 800 million to a company of an all Nigerian origination.

Petitions and submissions need not be a yard stick for measuring the overall performance of a company like GLO. Even in Research, it will be wrong to draw conclusions based on a sample of one person out of an entire class size. Mr. Ola Tunde Nsorfor Agu in his own submission said “Ghanaians will suffer the same way some Nigerians are suffering in the hands of GLO today, unless GLO has been able to institute measures that will add value to its operations in Ghana”. Judging from his assertion, if GLO puts in place the right measures, then the story will be different. However, he did not know what was being done from the time of his assessment, which we know was in 2009.

But from 2009 to date is long for much corporate change and development. Why then should Ghanaians be told not to jubilate? The worse of it all is the fact that the telecommunication industry in Ghana is not without problems. Series of agitations and demonstrations against some existing ones have happened in the near past. Mr. Agu should wait for us to catalogue our grievances with the existing operators for him.

What is this about Africans not celebrating Africans? If a foreign company operates and even cheats consumers, it is swept under the carpet. What a shame!

The position of the association (FRIENDS OF GLO GHANA) on this matter is unbiased and not motivated to defend wrongdoing. We strongly believe that companies like GLOBACOM and others of African origin should be encouraged and not stabbed in the back with publications like what was carried out by “The Citizen” on May 31 to 7th June 2011

Yours Faithfully,

NTIAMOAH BOAMPONG PRINCE

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

FRIENDS OF GLO GHANA