Ghana’s Ministry of Communications (MoC) through the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), in partnership with the Export-Import Bank of China and Huawei Technologies Ghana officially launched the Rural Telephony Project at Atwereboana in the Ashanti Region of Ghana on 4 November, according to a report in Commsupdate.
The initiative aims to provide voice and data services to more than 3.4 million people in underserved and unserved communities by commissioning 2,016 Rural Star sites developed by Huawei, thereby extending national mobile coverage from 83% to 95% and greatly accelerating local economic development.
The solution is expected to save the government up to 70% of the cost of traditional cell sites.
Ghana’s Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said: “No one, irrespective of their financial, economic, social status or location should be deprived of access to quality telephony services hence the government’s keen interest in making sure that the project is delivered successfully and they intend to roll out 1,000 sites by December.
“I must congratulate GIFEC, Huawei and the mobile network operators for working together to deliver this project. As policymakers, we will continue to provide leadership in implementing solutions and programmes to facilitate rural connectivity.”
