GHANA ACHIEVES 67 PERCENT TELEPHONE PENETRATION (PAGE 3)

4/28/10
Story: Mary Mensah
The Contribution of the private sector has enabled Ghana to achieve a 67 per cent telephone penetration with over 15 million subscribers.
This increase poses interesting challenges to the management of the numbering resource and because of this, the National Communications Authority (NCA) has began restructuring the country's numbering plan.
The Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Gideon Quarcoo, announced this at the opening of a three-day workshop on numbering planning and convergence of numbering which was organised by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Accra today.
He said numbers had always had an important role in telecommunications and the importance of numbering as a regulatory instrument had increased significantly with fair and transparent access to numbers being an essential part of ensuring a competitive telecommunications market.
He said a properly managed numbering system also created business opportunities in the manner the numbers were used adding that the short code numbers were widely used in Ghana for phone-ins and television transmission.
Mr Quarcoo urged the NCA to endeavour to introduce innovative schemes that would allow individuals to procure numbers to use for other services and share in the revenues to be derived from them.
He said with the experience of the recent global financial difficulties that had hampered investment in the ICT sector, it was necessary for the national regulators to explore areas that would enhance revenue for national development.
He commended the NCA for installing equipment to control and check fraud associated with illegal voice termination in Ghana and assured telecom operators that the measures and initiatives being put in place by the NCA did not hinder commercial freedom encouraged by the ITU and WTO.
He called on the media to take interest in ICT development since the media was an essential partner in the crusade to build a well-informed and knowledgeable society in Africa.
Dr Pasmor Kuranchi, a member of the board of the National Communications Authority (NCA), who chaired the function stressed the need to develop the appropriate capacity within countries to ensure that numbering planning and addressing mechanisms kept pace with the demands being made by users.
He said recent developments in technology seemed to suggest that in the not too distant future, household items such as refrigerators, television sets and lightning systems could all be assessed via the Internet for remote controlling ???.
Dr Kuranchi noted that the development of the ICT sectors in the countries of the sub-region in particular and developing countries in general must be very important to all.
He urged the participants to deliberate further on the issues affecting the regional Internet registry with special focus on the ITU plans for developing countries.