Transformation of telecom industry set for Ghana

Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Telecom,Mr. Ostein Bjorge has recently agreed loan facility of $150m from the Chinese Export Credit Institute to be used to improve and expand telecommunications in Ghana.

Modern equipment is being imported from Alcatel Shanghai for the transformation of telecom facilities in Ghana.

Firstly there will be a demobilisation of existing equipment to allow for necessary uniformity in the sourcing of parts and training.

There will also be a wider coverage for mobile phone users throughout the country and a greater number of paid-phone places will be made available to lower income groups.

New base stations and further telecommunications infrastructure will be installed, including a complex switching network which will be able to support 400,000 additional phone lines.

This will be followed by the extension of mobile phone facilities enabling the backlog of some 150,000 mobile phone subscriber applicants to be cleared.

The establishment of new cell sites as well as the enhancement of the existing ones will finally support a subscribe base of 750,000.

An Intelligent Network Platform,INP, also coming with the new arrangement would make it possible for Ghana Telecom to cut off defaulting subscribers when necessary.

The changes are expected to be fully underway next year, including improvement in infrastructure, services, equipment and tariff pricing.