Last updated on Thursday, 2nd September, 2010, at 09:19am
Citi FM holds bandwidth confab in Accra
By Samuel Osei/citifmonline.com | Thu 06th May, 2010 15:08 GMT
Haruna Iddrisu - Communications Minister

The next time you travel outside Accra or your city of dwelling, how easy will it be for you to find your favourite fufu joint? How easy is it for a hardworking young Ghanaian  to find a suitable fun base in Akim Oda or Aburi on a cozy Friday evening after a stressful week and why does it take so much hard work for Ghanaians to find very basic information on their country? 

 
These were among some very probing questions raised by Dorothy Gordon, Director General, Kofi Annan Center of Excellence in ICT at the just ended Citi FM/Google bandwidth internet conference.
 
She spoke on the topic: ‘Prospects for increased Ghanaian content on the internet.
 
Dorothy Gordon opined that the content gap on the internet provides a multimillion dollar business opportunity for Ghanaian entrepreneurs and all those involved in internet business delivery in this country.
 
She charged Ghanaian internet developers to explore the local Ghanaian society and develop contents that are relevant to Ghanaians and their immediate environs.
 
“Ghana’s story can be told better by Ghanaians and it is important that we start developing local content... It requires a lot more hardwork to find information on Ghana because there are no websites in Ghana serving that interest” She said.
 
Her views on local content development were unanimously shared by the other three speakers of the day, Mawuli Tse, Marketing Director for Africa, I-BASIS, Kofi Dadzie, Managing Director of Rancard Solutions and Philip Sowah, Managing Director of Zain.
 
Enhancing a very vibrant E-commerce also came up for discussion at the forum. Dorothy Gordon challenged the appropriate authorities to enhance financial regulations as a means of ensuring that it becomes easier for people to transact businesses on the internet.
 
The forum which was organised in collaboration with Google Ghana brought together key players in the telecommunications Industry in Ghana to deliberate on how best to improve internet service delivery in the country.
 
The conference being organised in collaboration with Google Ghana has brought together key players in the telecommunications Industry in Ghana to deliberate on how best to improve internet service delivery in the country.
 
Delivering his address, the Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu charged the National Communications Authority to take a firm stance and ensure that Vodafone desists from serving both as a retailer and a wholesaler of broadband services.
 
The state owned communications outfit has doubled in the two capacities for sometime now to the detriment of several other retail companies. The communications Minister said the phenomenon is unacceptable.
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Haruna Iddrisu also disclosed that his Ministry in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology will from next week “take a giant leap in addressing the issue of telephone masts” which has become a source of great concern for the general public.
Mawuli Tse, the Marketing Director for Africa – I-BASIS spoke on the topic: The role of the regulatory and the policy environment on internet availability and pricing.
 
He also noted with great concern the lack of local content in the internet service delivery in Ghana.
 
According to him the content of internet service in Ghana should be enriched with applications relevant to the economic development of the country. 
 
He challenged the regulator, the National Communications Authority to be clear with broadband licensing; permitting by default instead of restricting by default so that it will foster the required growth.
 
He also urged the NCA to put in place a systematic regulation in pricing to enhance easier internet access and penetration.
 
Kofi Dadzie, the Managing Director of Rancard Solutions,  predicted that with the expectation of three additional fibre optic cables in the country within the next year, wholesale pricing in internet service in Ghana will significantly reduce. He could however not say same for retail pricing, noting that it will take some time for that to happen.
 
The Managing Director of Zain, Philip Sowah disclosed that there is enough evidence to state that mobile internet can bridge the internet penetration gap between Ghana and the Western world.
 
The forum provided a rare platform for internet users to ventilate their grievances on internet service delivery by the service providers. Many of the participants who spoke to Citifmonline.com after the event expressed their utmost satisfaction with the outcome of the conference.
 
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