Accra, March 18, GNA - Dr Nicholas Westcott, British High Commissioner to Ghana on Thursday urged Ghana government to encourage mobile phone companies to deliver additional value added services. He said the use of mobile phones for financial transactions and the delivery of Internet-based information through 3G services should be encouraged.

Dr Westcott, who was speaking at a Technology Transfer seminar under the topic: "ICT Innovation - Government and Development" said Ghana stood on the cusp of a technological transformation. "Mobile Telephone Technology creates multiple opportunities for people to market their own goods more effectively and to develop services that help the whole economy to grow faster," he said. He added that the country could leapfrog in the mobile phone technology because of the high level of its usage in Ghana. "Research conducted by the government of Ghana highlights that IT-enabled industries already employ directly some 2500 people and that there is serious potential to create another 37,000 direct jobs," he said.

Dr Westcott lauded Ghana's IT capacity development and said British companies setting up in the country were impressed about that. He explained that development partners together with the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) were working with government to promote the growth of the sector. In addition, he said, the private sector must lead the growth path in the sector so as to generate the fastest and maximum benefits expected.

Dr Westcott said the sector is ripe for foreign investors who could raise enough resources to support the industry even in the wake of the global downturn. 18 March 09