Akufo-Addo promises to complete 200 rural telephone sites by end of 2018

A rural telephony project at in Abenaso in the Eastern Region that will connect the town and surrounding communities with ICT facilities and telecommunication services has been inaugurated by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. The project, the President said, will be rolled out across the country to provide data and voice connectivity to some 1,020 unserved communities. It is will be done in through the National Communications Authority, Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), in partnership with MTN (Gh) Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Ltd. “The Abenaso rural telephony site, which I am inaugurating today, is part 161 rural telephony sites and 85 repeater sites which have been completed within 18 months of my government, and which will be providing voice and data connectivity to approximately five hundred (500) communities across the country,” Nana Akufo Addo said at the inauguration ceremony Friday. He noted despite the significant spread of telecommunications services across the country, the distribution of basic telephony infrastructure is still very much concentrated in the major economic centres of the country. Against this, he said the government continues to attach great importance to ensuring that telecommunication and ICT facilities, which can now be described as basic necessities of life, are available in all parts of the country. “Whilst Government is providing the requisite communications infrastructure throughout the country, we are also creating an enabling environment, through the policies implemented over the last 19 months, to encourage private sector investment in the communications sector,” he said. By the end of this year, a total of 200 telephony sites, serving some 1,000 communities will have been completed. This is to be compared to only 78 such telephony sites during the entire eight years of the Mills/Mahama era, the President revealed. “Such is the commitment of Government to ensuring the realization of today’s ceremony that taxes, such as VAT, customs duties and other import levies, were waived for the equipment brought into the country for the project. I express my deep appreciation to our traditional authorities, across the country, for generously donating parcels of land for the project to take off,” he said The inauguration of the Abenaso Project, the President said, will mean that Abenaso, together with 499 other rural communities across the country will enjoy 3G coverage. President Akufo-Addo noted that expanding telephony connectivity services to rural communities in the country “will help open up Abenaso and other rural communities to opportunities for the development of skills and knowledge, as well the growth of businesses and the local economy”. He elicited the help of the traditional authorities in Abenaso and other beneficiary communities to “utilize fully the opportunities that this project will bring to them. We would want to see this project bring about a positive impact on the lives of residents of this community and other beneficiary communities.” President Akufo-Addo also urged the youth gathered “to take advantage of the opportunities that will be afforded to you by this facility. You are living in perhaps the most exciting time in our history, so please make the best of it. Some say this is our time. I say this is your time, and tomorrow will be the time of your children.” He reiterated his commitment to building a new Ghanaian civilization, “where fair opportunities are given to all to live dignified, productive lives by dint of their hard work, creativity and sense of enterprise. It is a promising phase in the Ghanaian journey.” By 3news.com|Ghana]]>