Mahama calls for restraint by communication centres

..... in increasing charges

The minority spokesman on communications in Parliament, John Mahama has urged operators of communication centres to exercise restraint in increasing their charges following the new rates announced by the telecommunication companies.

He said in a statement issued in Accra that communication is a critical tool for development and must remain affordable to the people. "The recent increase in tariff by the telecom operators in the basic local charge has been minimal and stands at 200 cedis for the first three minutes and 100 cedis per additional minute.

However, some communication centres are charging between 900 cedis and 1,000 cedis for the first three minutes and 300 cedis per additional minute."

Mahaha also MP for Bole Bamboi and former Minister for Communications said the difference in charges between the communication centres and telecom operators is too wide and unjustifiable and called for dialogue between the government and the umbrella association for communication centres to negotiate reasonable and affordable charges for their services.

He urged telecom operators to speed up their programmes for deploying additional payphones especially in urban centres so as to increase the public's access to telecommunication services.