District Assemblies; others to fix rates for telecom operators

Kumasi, June 30, GNA - Rates for telecom service providers' business, will be determined by District Assemblies with approval from the National Communication Authority (NCA), Minister of Communication, Benjamin Aggrey has said.

Similarly, he said, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority shall in consultation with the NCA determine the rate to be paid by network operators in respect of charges related to the granting of permit for the erection of towers and masts. Announcing this at the 4th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Communication Workers Union of the Ghana Trades Union Congress at Kumasi last Friday, Dr Ntim the Minister said the law to make this effective would be passed in July this year when Parliament rises. He said section 94 of the Electronic Communication Bill deals with issues regarding the payment of business operation rates by telecom operators to the districts when they sought to establish base stations to provide services.

"This is to ensure a win-win negotiation process on this subject, which affects the industry and the consumer," the Minister said. Furthermore, Dr Ntim said to provide confidence and security in the use of ICT, besides the Electronic Bill, three others bills; the Electronic Transaction Bill, the Revised NCA Bill and the National Information Technology Bill would be passed alongside. He noted that the telecom industry has expressed concern over the occasional conflicts that erupted due to the payments of service providers' businesses. Dr Ntim lauded the contributions of the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) to the development of ICT in the country and said Government would always call on them to make input into additional bills that were yet to be developed.

Other bills in the pipeline include Data Protection Legislation, Intellectual Property legislation relating to electronic medium, software developments, Public Record Management Legislation, Cybercrime and Cybersecurity and Consumer Protection. The CWU's three-Conference was attended by over 150 unionised delegates nationwide from eight institutions namely the Ghana Telecom, Kasapa Telecom, Ghana Post, Ghana News Agency, Metro TV, TV Africa, exZeed Limited, a call centre industry, and ZTE Limited, a Chinese telecom company.

Mr Dadzie, the General Secretary of the Union said the Union supports policies that promote and advance universal quality telecom service. He said such policies include those that would bridge the digital divide, ensure that competition does not undermine systems of support that have resulted in near-universal, affordable, and high-quality telephone service. Mr Dadzie noted that there were still a large segment of communication workers that would be organised into the CWU family who would feel secure in terms of salaries and other fringe benefits.