Ghana’s Ministry of Communication has begun efforts aimed at amending Telecommunications regulations in the country by the end of the year.
The move is to provide a congenial environment to protect Ghanaians.
Some provisions of the current regulatory regime make it difficult for players not only to expand their services but also makes the acquisition of certain licenses expensive.
Paramount among the amendments will be the issuance of 4G license. Apart from MTN, Surfline and Busy, all other Telecommunications companies in the country are running on 3G.
Some analysts in the sector have complained of the expensive licensing regime.
The regulator for the industry, National Communication Authority’s (NCA) license for the 4G spectrum was tagged at $67.5 million last year.
Speaking during a courtesy call to Vodafone Ghana, Communication minister of Ghana, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful said the 4G technology must be made accessible to all Ghanaians to enjoy better services.
“We need to clean up the regulatory space. We had policies in the past which drove the issuance of licenses to all manner of people for specific services.”
“There has been a bit of regulation confusion in this area. We are working towards clarifying that and I am sure by the end of this year we should see our way clear towards encouraging industry to also take up the various technologies available so that Ghanaians can get the best experience,” Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said.
The Minister added that the regulatory regime needs to be more flexible to support the industry to thrive.
“The NCA says that the license is technology neutral, they don’t care what technology you use to provide the services to the consumer. We will encourage them to live up to that pledge; so that we’ve got unified licenses, you have a license to provide services”
The Chief Executive for Vodafone Ghana, Yolanda Cuba assured the minister of Vodafone’s support to all her endeavors.
Source: Africafeeds.com/ Osei Owusu Amankwah
