SARPONG'S BLOG

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express Data from the National Communication Authority (NCA) shows that mobile penetration in Ghana stands at 131.63% as at April 2016. This does not mean that all Ghanaians have active mobile phone lines.                                                      Mr. William Tevie, NCA Director General                    However, it means that there are people in Ghana who are using more than one mobile lines and that accounts for the 131.63% of mobile penetration. Meanwhile, the total number of active mobile lines in Ghana for the first four months of 2016 was 36,395,116. This is higher than 36,138,706 recorded at the month of March 2016. Results from the NCA indicate that three mobile operators gain additional lines between the month of March and April, this...

GOtv will from August 5, 2016 broadcast the Olympic Games which will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on three SuperSport Channels. A statement from MultiChoice Ghana stated that the Olympic Games will be available on three pop-up channels. The channels are SuperSport 5 on channel 37, SuperSport 7 on channel 38 and SuperSport 12 on channel 39 for the duration of the sporting event. MultiChoice said subscribers will experience the momentous event from every angle, as SuperSport will be there to capture all the action of the Games. “With 306 medal sets available, SuperSport will broadcast live every gold-medal event, ensuring unprecedented coverage of the sport spectacle. There will be more than 2,500 hours of the Olympics broadcast over 15 days,” the statement said. It added that coverage will include Olympics news, boxing, basketball, football, gymnastics and weightlifting. SuperSport 12 will be a dedicated 24-hour Olympic news channel, which will be produced by the...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express Progress of work on the Tweneboah-Enyenra-Ntomme (TEN) Field project is about 80% complete. According to the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC), the project is expected to be 87.5% complete by the end of 2016. The TEN project is Ghana’s second major oil development. GNPC indicates as part of the development of the TEN Field project, all cabling, structure and turret integration works as well as site installation test with dummy riser/umbilical pull-in have been completed. This is contained in the published Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) report on Management of Petroleum Revenues for year 2015.  “Pipeline End Terminations (PLETs), piles and risers in the Ntomme and Enyenra fields as well as the Tweneboah gas processing wells installed,” the report revealed. The report said works on pile structure together with piping and welding of gas storage facilities are currently ongoing. It also added ...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express Nine upstream companies operating in Ghana’s oil sector have failed to pay their outstanding surface rental assessment fees in 2015 totalling about US$721,199.32. This is contained in the published Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) report on Management of Petroleum Revenues for year 2015. PIAC established under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act 2011 (Act 815) and among other things is to monitor and evaluate compliance with the Act by Government and other relevant institutions in the management and use of petroleum revenues and investment.  The companies who owed the state surface rental fees since 2015 are Saltpond Offshore Production Company operating at Saltpond Field (US$605.00); Tullow Ghana Limited operating at Deepwater Tano (US$76,434.05); AGM Petroleum Ghana Limited operating at South Deepwater Tano (US$174,100.00); and Heritage Exploration and Production Company Limited operating at Offshore South...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC) is urging the government to consider hedging it share of crude oil from the Jubilee Field. According to PIAC, in order to help mitigate the impacts of the volatility of crude oil prices on the world market and following the successful hedging programmes being implemented by Tullow Ghana Limited and Kosmos, the government should consider resuming its hedging programme on crude oil export. Professor Kingsley Buah-Bassah, the Chairman of PIAC in an interview said Ghana stand the chance of getting a lot of revenue from the hedging. “The advantage of hedging is that if the price of crude oil is low as US$40 per barrel and Ghana decided to peg it oil price at US$70 per barrel, because of the lower price on the world market Ghana will gain. But if its vas versa Ghana will rather lose heavily,” he explained further. “This hedging system is a lottery and now that the price is not o...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong- Daily Express The Ghana’s Education Sector Performance Report 2015 has revealed that a total spending on education in 2014 was nearly GHc6.6 billion, representing a substantial increase of 15.2% from GHc5.7 billion expenditure in 2013. According to the report, this was as a result of an increase in Government of Ghana (GoG) expenditure which went up from GHc4.5 billion in 2013 to GHc5.2 billion in 2014 together with other Internally Generated Funds (IGF) and funds from Annual Budget Funding Amount and donor partners. The report said there was an increase in expenditure of 11.3% from Internally Generated Funds (IGF) by all sectors of schools, as well as a 17.1% increase in Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA). It also stated that donor expenditure on Ghana’s education also increased by 19.7% from GHc267 million to GHc322 million in 2014. “In 2014, Senior High School (SHS) accounted for the largest proportion of spending (22.4%), followed close...

By: Fred Yaw Sarpong The National Communication Authority (NCA), regulator of the telecom industry is organizing a symposium in Accra and it’s aimed at bringing together industry players to discuss issues that affecting the telecom sector in the country. The two day event which is under the theme: “The Role of Regulations in ICT Development” is taking place at La Palm Royal Beach Hotel today Monday 18 th July and Tuesday 19 th July. The symposium forms part of the activities to mark the 20 th anniversary celebration of the National Communication Authority. According to the NCA, the main objective of the symposium is to create a platform for telecommunication policy-makers, national telecommunications regulators, users groups and industry experts to exchange information and experiences on the issue of ICT deployment and development in Africa in relation to the global ICT development trends. The regulator believes that this symposium will generate and record val...

Veronica Narkwor Kwabla of TV3 Network from Ghana has been shortlisted among other Journalists from Africa for the 2016 CNN Multichoice Africa Journalist awards.   The finalists in the prestigious CNN MultiChoice African Journalist 2016 Competition were announced by Ferial Haffajee, Chair of the independent judging panel. This year, the competition received 1637 entries (a record number) from 38 countries across the continent, including French and Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa. The 38 finalists from 14 countries are Veronica Narkwor Kwabla, Tv3 Network, Ghana; Veronica Onuchi, TVC News Africa, Nigeria; Yemisi Akinbobola, Ogechi Ekeanyanwu & Paul Bradshaw, IQ4News for Premium Times, Nigeria; Adedayo Eriye Oketola, Saturday Punch, Nigeria; Aderonke Bello,  naij.com , Nigeria; Ancillar Mangena, Forbes Africa, South Africa; Asha Ahmed Mwilu & Rashid Idi, Kenya Television Network, Kenya; Ati Metwaly, Al Ahram Weekly, Egypt; Bento Venânci...