The
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World 2017 conference
opened today with an urgent call on governments as well as local and global ICT
players to work together and connect the 3.9 billion people who lack ICT access
in the world today.
ITU
Secretary General Houlin Zhao, who made the call at the grand opening ceremony,
observed that whereas it was refreshing to note that 95 per cent of the world
today has mobile connections, it is sad note 3.9 billion people were yet to be
connected.
He said
this year's ITU Telecom World, taking place in Busan, South Korea under the
theme Smart Digital Transformation, Global Opportunities”, was therefore
dedicated, among other things, to forging business to business as well as
business to government partnerships as part of the drive to connect the
unconnected.
Houlin
Zhao noted that special attention would also be paid to small and medium scale
enterprises (SMEs) in the ICT industry because they are doing a lot to
connected the unserved and underserved and ITU is seeking mainstream them to
drive that agenda strongly.
Indeed,
in Ghana, government, through the National Communications Authority (NCA),
recently announced a novelty authorization for telcos to use their 900MHz 2G
spectrum to deploy Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems (UMTS) and
provide affordable 3G service in the unserved and underserved areas.
Government
is giving this authorization for free to the telcos, and the telcos themselves
have said that deploying UMTS on 900MHz is much cheaper than deploying same on
the 2100MHz originally licensed to them for 3G.
The
telcos said they are therefore happy to apply for the authorization and deploy
3G to the unconnected areas of the country, in line ITU vision of connection
the unconnected 3.9 billion people of the world.
Again,
team Ghana, at the ITU would be showcasing the e-Transform agenda, which is a
national drive towards digitizing all state institutions and digitalizing
services from the state to citizens.
Part of
that agenda would be to digitalize citizens records in order for government to
serve them better.
Indeed,
Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu Ekuful put it more succinctly in her
statement to participants of the ITU Telecom World saying "As part of our
Digital Ghana Agenda, we are embarking on an ambitious infrastructure
development programme for the ICT Sector, with a national broadband
infrastructure and total connectivity for the unserved and underserved at the
heart of the agenda. No one will be left behind."
The
Minister, who is being represented at the ITU Conference by his Deputy, Nenyi
George Kojo Andah, took the opportunity to invite participants to Ghana's stand
to interact with Ghana's exhibitors and to see the innovative products being
showcased by the Ghanaian delegation.
Those on
team Ghana are National Communications Authority (NCA), Ghana Investment Fund
for Electronic Communication (GIFEC), National Information Technology Agency
(NITA), Subah Ghana, GCNet and the Wireless Applications Service Providers
Association of Ghana (WASPAG).
WASPAG
The ITU
is placing strong emphasis on the role of tech SMEs in bridging the digital
gap, and WASPAG is a group of Ghanaian tech SMEs using affordable mobile
technologies to deliver services in both privileged and less-privileged
communities.
WASPAG is
at the ITU conference to take advantage of ITU's focus on SMEs to showcase what
they do as separate entities to ensure digital inclusion, particularly their
mobile health service that bring health professional to the doorstep of
customers at very affordable rates.
WASPAG
Chair, Ismael Yamson told Adom News they contribute to expanding connectivity
to underserved areas through GIFEC, the universal access fund, and they would
also be happy to extend services to those areas once there is connectivity.
GIFEC
GIFEC is
also undertaking an ambitious smart communities project to ensure affordable
and or free WIFI to specific communities to help grow businesses, access to
information and essential services through local WIFI connectivity.
This
project, slated to take off next month, will run on the back of government's 4G
LTE set up under NITA and also on GIFEC's own Satellite Hub.
Administrator
of GIFEC, Kofi Asante who led the GIFEC team to Busan, told Adom News smart
communities project will start from four communities - Berekum, Goaso,
Asankragwa and Asomura, and it will be spread to other areas going forward.
He said
GIFEC are also remodeling their operations to now partner with telcos and
infrastructure companies to raise more towers at a faster rate in the unserved
and underserved communities.
"For
starters, we are working with MTN and Huawei to raise 100 of such towers by the
close of this year alone and next year we will raise 200 more of such towers -
which is much better than the 170 towers GIFEC has put up under the old
model," he said.
NITA
On their
part, NITA has laid fibre network from Accra through the eastern corridor
(Volta Region) to Bawku, and has spread 120 4G LTE towers across the country and
are they working on laying fibre along the western corridor through to Hamile
in the north.
NITA
boss, Jeffrey Konadu Addo also told Adom News the vision is to ready the
communities for industry players to find it viable to connect to the government
infrastructure and offer affordable WIFI service in the deprived areas.
He said
NITA is about to connect schools on the infrastructure it has spread across the
country and that will also benefit the communities in which the schools are.
"Currently
our infrastructure is only serving government institutions but we are in talks
with some private businesses who want to come on board but we need to regulate
well in order for there to be sanity in the system," the NITA boss.
ITU 2018
Meanwhile,
South African Minister of Telecoms and Postal Services, Siyabonga Cyprian Cwele
announced that South Africa is ready to host ITU Telecom World 2018 "not
just because of South Africa but it is time the ITU comes to Africa."
He noted
that the ITU cannot quite be global unless its global conference comes to
Africa and the time is now.
Siyabonga
Cwele said Africa is now on the move as far as ICTs and mobile technologies are
concerned, and the continent remains the leading investment destination in the
world, offering the most promising investment opportunities.
He
therefore urged the world to "come to Africa through South Africa and join
the move."
Hungary also offered to host the ITU Telecom World
in 2019.
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