Gov't & Telenor Agreement Still 'Secret'

Details of the agreement between the Ghana government and Telenor Business Solutions- Norway, for a strategic investment in Ghana Telecom had eluded Ghanaians.

Three weeks after Communications minister Felix Owusu Adjepong announced the selection of the Nordic company, the nature of the agreement and the status of the 30% shareholder, G- COM is still unknown.

At his press conference, the minister said, the details would be known after a memorandum of understanding has been signed with the company, which was selected out of twelve (12) bidding companies.

The advertisement asking interested companies to submit proposals did not state the nature of their involvement, but what government (70% shareholder in Ghana Telecom) expects the selected bidder to achieve.

Questions being raised, but which remain unanswered include whether the government would offload part of its 70% shares to Telenor, or it would sign a purely management contract (in this case) with government.

The 30% shareholder represented by Telekom Malaysia has been involved in the transaction. It has already notified government of its intention to sell off its shares, but government sources have indicated a seeming relapse on that position.

Delay in making public the details of the Telenor deal, not even a report to the parliamentary committee on communications has raised some anxiety within the telecommunications sector.

Telekom Malaysia led the G-COM consortium to acquire 30% shares in the late 90's. It was handed a five year management contract to manage the company, but at the end of the contract period in February 2002, government concluded that it performed poorly.

The search for a new investor, but details not well spelled out began as part of government vision to improve the country's ICT infrastructure and provide at least 400,000 telephone lines in the next 2 years.