President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed the Ministry of Communications to extend the spectrum of telecommunication networks as a result of the significant increase in internet traffic caused by the restriction on movements due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking at a press briefing held by the Ministry of Information this morning, the Minister of Communications, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful disclosed that two of the nation’s telecommunication giants, Vodafone and MTN have been selected to benefit from this policy of an extended-spectrum for free in the next three months.

The minister said this initiative is aimed at easing the pressure that the Telcos are currently experiencing.

“As you are all aware data usage has increased dramatically during this period of lockdown an there is congestion on all the networks. So the quality of network services to the general public has been affected. The traffic jams have moved from the streets to online and so the president has directed that the NCA should give more spectrum to the telcos during this period for free and that has been done. Unfortunately, we have limited spectrum available and that has been given to the two telcos that are bearing the brunt of it, which is Vodafone and MTN.” She said.

She, however, called on Ghanaians to alter their online behaviour by limiting their internet activities in order to ease the current on telcos. She urged internet users to seek alternative sources of entertainment in place of internet usage.

"We can also help further by changing our online behaviour a little bit. If you don’t have to make a video call don’t make a video call. Make your normal phone calls it will go through and you will conserve data. Let’s limit the download of music, movies and other stuffs like that, we already have some saved on our phones. TVs are also working, let’s see how we can utilise the available avenues that we have so that we can save the limited data that we have.” She added.