West African Telecom Experts Meet In Accra

Accra, (Greater Accra) 27 Oct.,

The third meeting of the Financial and Commercial Working Group of the West and South-West Africa Submarine Cable Project opened in Accra today with a call on delegates to strive to meet the operational target date of the year 2000 before similar cable projects begin. Mr. Adnan Rofiee, Managing Director of Ghana Telecom, asked the 17 delegates to deliberate seriously on the agenda and produce workable recommendations for consideration by the Interim Management Committee. The five-day conference organised by Ghana Telecom is being attended by delegates from Ghana, Senegal, Angola, Benin, Cameroon and South Africa. Others are expected from Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, Guinea, Liberia and Niger which are all participating in the Project. They will deliberate on a name for the cable, look into the total cost and cost per country and financial implications of the Project. Mr. Rofiee said the project, estimated to cost between 350 and 400 million dollars, should be technically superior and commercially competitive in order to attract more countries. Mr. Rofiee said when completed, the project will provide direct cable connection between and among Southern and West African countries. It will be wholly owned by the telecommunications operators in the participating countries. It will also provide an express telecommunication path to the Americas, Western Europe and South East Asia, provide diversity and enhance multimedia communication. He said landlocked countries will be connected through facilities of the coastal countries. Mr. Rofiee urged African countries to participate in the initiative ''as a critical element in providing inter-regional connection and cost effective telephone''. ''Since we are all coming from developing countries where our economies are in the process of development, the result will be the growth of the customer bases in our various administrations.'' The first two conferences were held in Dakar, Senegal, and Pretoria, South Africa.