Vodafone Ghana has enhanced its specialised customer service initiative to respond to the needs of its customers who are speech and hearing impaired. The initiative is to allow customers who were challenged with speaking and hearing to easily and equally access the service of Vodafone’s customer care centre to have their problems with the network addressed.

Mr Daniel Asiedu, the Corporate Communications Manager, said at a News Conference in Accra that over 7000 videos calls had been made with 300 customers its introduction in 2017 to communicate with them suing the sign language.

He explained that Vodafone had trained a significant number of staff in using the ‘sign language’ to communicate with its customers who needed such help. He said the service was highly subsidised in data and SMS bundles for such specialised customers.

Mr Asiedu noted that Vodafone was pleased to have fulfilled its promises to customers in areas of health, education, as well as mentoring and training. He said a socio-economic impact study on Vodafone showed that, from 2014 to 2016, the Company invested ten million Ghana Cedis in creative arts, GH¢10.7 million in health and wellbeing initiatives, GH¢24.4 million in Social Security and National Insurance Trust, GH¢1.6 million in education and had created jobs for 520,000 Ghanaians.

He said among the health programmes it initiated for the public were ‘Healthfest’, to give 25,000 citizens healthcare services and free medication in their communities.

Mr Asiedu also indicated that Vodafone’s ‘Healthline’ programme sponsored 96 surgeries, discharged over 1000 patients, adding that over10,000 were beneficiaries from deprived communities across the country.

“Vodafone this year also launched its digital coding training programme to train 10,000 youth within five years in digital coding. The beneficiaries are also trained on how to monetise or make money out of the skills they have developed”, he said. Over two million students were enrolled in the Company’s ‘instant schools platform’, including 300 Science female scholars.

Other programmes were the ‘Recycling Initiatives’ where the public were encouraged to donate their old, damaged and unused phones, paper and other waste products to Vodafone Foundation for recycling to support needy and vulnerable people.

Vodafone was also committed to adopting complete renewable energy usage by 2025 in line with an overall Vodafone Group focused plan. Mr Gayheart Mensah, the Director of External Affairs and Corporate Security, Vodafone Ghana urged journalists to add value to their reportage to distinguish them from the non-professionals who propagate information using the social media.

“Add an in-depth value and influence to the understanding of the public on issues of national interest”, he said. Mr Mensah urged the National Communication Authority revises its policies on ‘sale of spectrum’ to the telecommunication companies’.

He said: “Selling the highest spectrum to the highest bidder is a step that comes with many problems, especially knowing very well that there are some Telecommunication Companies that could not afford”.