Government makes giant strides in ICT growth
Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Communication on Monday observed that government has made giant strides in transforming the country into a modern information-rich and knowledge based society in terms of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) development.
He said the benefits of ICT could be applied to facilitate socio-economic development to bring enormous benefits to Ghanaians.
Government therefore, remained committed to promote digital literacy in the country to ensure that the people reap full benefits of ICT usage.
Mr Iddrisu made the observation when the Ministry of Communication took its turn on the Meet-the-Press series organised by the Ministry of Information.
It is a platform that enables ministries and other public agencies to inform the public on the strides made in governance.
Mr Iddrisu said the mandate of the Ministry is to build a people centred, inclusive and development-oriented information and knowledge society where everyone could create, access, utilise and share information and knowledge to enable individuals and communities achieve their full potential of promoting sustainable development.
“In this regard, we are proud of the enormous growth in the ICT sector; and we have made humble but significant strides to transform Ghana into a modern information-rich and knowledge based society where the benefits of ICT can be applied to facilitate socio-economic development,” he added.
Mr Iddrisu said the communication sector this year witnessed significant growth and transformation, which also expanded in scope as well as technological advancement.
This was recognised by the International Telecommunication Union where the country had been touted as of the fastest growing ICT industry in the developing world.
Mr Iddrisu said within the framework of government’s development agenda to provide transparent and accountable governance, strong economy for real jobs, investing in people and expanding infrastructure for growth, the Ministry is situating ICT as prime enabler and facilitator to provide the necessary tools for good governance.
He noted that the telecommunication sector also continue to experience tremendous growth as a result of investments in infrastructure development and favourable regulatory and legal environment.
By the end of July, this year, the total telephone subscriptions stood at 19,805,896 yielding a tele-density of 80.2 per cent.
Mr Iddrisu said growth in tele-density has necessitated the intensification of monitoring of quality of service performance in call set up time, call congestion rate and call drop rate indicators.
He said his sector Ministry is liaising with the National Communication Authority (NCA) to address the problems.
On the SIM Card registration, the Minister commended the NCA and the mobile operators for the exercise that would help mitigate crime.
Mr Iddrisu said 85 per cent of mobile phone users had registered and appealed to those who are yet to patronise the exercise to do so to keep their lines active.
On the Mobile Number Portability, Mr Iddrisu said the exercise had deepened and increased competition, making Ghana the first country in the sub-region to implement it.
Source: GNA