Vice-President commissions cell site for Spacefon

The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama has inaugurated a Spacefon Cell Site for the Scancom Limited at Somanya-Krobo with a call on the National Communication Authority (NCA) to devise strategies that would speed up the growth of rural telephony and Internet access.

He said the government recognised the impact of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the socio-economic development of the country that was why it had invested in the development of the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in Accra.

Alhaji Mahama said for the country to bridge the "digital divide" facing developing countries the government had stepped up efforts to fashion out its ICT policy to enable it evolve a workable plan to achieve the objective.

He called on the communication operators in the country to deliver their services at affordable prices and ensure that the fundamental right of consumers was not compromised through their failure to facilitate interconnection among their respective systems.

The Vice President reminded the operators that when a consumer on one network could not reach a subscriber on another network his or her right of interconnection was breached, especially when this was due to the failure of providers to reasonably and commercially accommodate one another.

He commended Scancom for its commitment to accelerate the participation of rural dwellers in the ongoing information evolution by extending its services to the Kroboland.

Alhaji Mahama expressed government's concern about the protracted chieftaincy and land disputes in the area and said it affected the political and economic relationships of the people and their efforts to meet their developmental goals.

He, therefore, urged them to promote effective communication among themselves to resolve suspicions and misunderstanding amicably.

On the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Vice President reminded the people that the 2002 surveillance report indicated that the Eastern Region led in the prevalence rate with Koforidua and Agormanya "at the top of the league table" and called on all sections of society to join in the crusade to fight it spread.

Minister of Communications, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah said the Cell Site in Somanya by Scancom was a step in the right direction to bringing communication to the doorsteps of rural dwellers.

He said the Ministry was determined to remove communication regulatory bottlenecks to enhance the promotion of private sector investment in the sector.

The Eastern Regional Minister, Dr Francis Osafo-Mensah said the provision of the Spacefon facility fell in line with the manifesto of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to promote the private sector as the engine of growth.

He told the people that the government was committed to the equitable distribution of projects and programmes.

The Managing Director of Scancom, Mr Ahmad Farroukh said the installation of the facility in the area was part of the efforts of the company to provide telephony to all parts of the country to help the government attain its "Golden Age of Business" policy.

He said Spacefon, which was introduced in the country in 1996, now had 340,000 lines.