GT-Vodafone deal necessary for retaining expertise - Amuzu

Ho, Aug 14, GNA - Mr Paul Evans Amuzu, Volta Regional Head of Ghana Telecom (GT), has noted that the technical expertise of GT workers would go to waste if the company is not rescued by a large infusion of capital.

He was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after GT workers staged a protest in Ho on Tuesday in support of the 70 percent off-loading of government shares in GT to Vodafone-UK. The workers wielded placards of which some read: "Vodafone Would Resuscitate the Dying GT," and "It Is Not about Politics, Deal Would Save GT from Collapse."

Mr Amuzu was worried that if the deal failed to go through, GT would end up losing its high technical expertise to other telecommunication companies in the country and abroad. He said the choice now was between accepting a lifeline in the form of the GT-Vodafone deal in order to keep a telecommunication company flying the national colours or a liquidated GT.

Mr Amuzu said GT was sinking and needed a saviour on very good terms, which he believed was in the offing.

Mrs Gifti Jones-Quartey, Corporate Communication Manager of GT, who addressed the workers, said the company's position was so bad that it had lost the resources to balance the scales when purchasing equipment. "While other companies get their wares in bulk and get rebates, GT bargains for uneconomic credit terms," she lamented. Mrs Jones-Quartey said GT currently had only 10 percent of the market share in the operation of mobile phones. She said GT would be dead before capital could be raised on the Stock Exchange if that became the option.