Ghanaian mobile users are on the verge of a connectivity breakthrough as the government announces an unprecedented surge in telecommunications infrastructure, with major operators set to deploy nearly four times the annual average of new cell sites this year.
The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Sam Nartey George, revealed the ambitious expansion plans during a ceremony to present laptops to universities under the One Million Coders Programme. The move is designed to permanently address the dead zones and data lags that have frustrated consumers for years.
The Minister disclosed that he has been in high-level negotiations with the leadership of Ghana’s major carriers to ensure their investment plans match the nation’s digital hunger.
While Telecel (formerly Vodafone Ghana) has committed to a significant infrastructure boost, the Minister successfully lobbied MTN Group to increase their footprint even further following discussions at the Mobile World Congress.
“Telecel has also announced 350 new cell sites. Now I met with the group CEO of MTN at the Mobile World Conference, and I said to him, ‘You are an SMP; Telecel is doing 350, you’ve announced 500; thank you, but I want more.’ And credit to MTN Group, approval was given for 300 more sites, so MTN is doing 800 sites this year, 800 sites this year,” Mr. George disclosed.
To underscore the sheer scale of this year’s rollout, the Minister provided a comparative analysis of past performance versus current commitments. The figures suggest a radical departure from the slow, incremental growth of the last decade.
“Put that in perspective… on the average, it’s been 223 sites a year. We’re doing almost four times that this year… that should explain to you the level of improvement in the network,” he added.
Addressing the issue of service quality, the Minister signalled a change in how the National Communications Authority (NCA) will handle non-compliance.
Rather than simply collecting penalties for the state coffers, the focus will shift to ensuring those funds are reinvested directly into the user experience.
“If we impose the fines, the NCA will do everything they can to make sure that what would have been fined is used to improve the network, the customer benefits from it,” he stated.
The infrastructure surge is seen as the necessary foundation for the government’s flagship One Million Coders Programme. As the nation prepares to train a new generation of tech talent, the Ministry insists that without a “robust and reliable” network, the broader digital transformation agenda will remain out of reach.
While the Minister cautioned that the full impact of these 1,150 new sites would take several months to materialise, he assured the public that the “capacity improvements” currently under construction will deliver a noticeably faster and more stable digital environment by the end of the year.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com
