The government is working in collaboration with the private sector to build a robust internet infrastructure to complement international internet platforms, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has said.
She said in as much as the government recognised the private sector as the engine of growth, it would create the enabling environment for same to grow.
According to her, having weaned itself from actively participating in the telecom sector, the need for the government to collaborate with the private sector to build a robust internet infrastructure had become apparent.
“That is why government is actively investing in the rural telephony programme because they are areas where the private sector will not go because it is not profitable for them to do so.
“So government will put up the infrastructure for the private sector to leverage its services over that infrastructure and we are ready to partner the private sector in this area,” she told parliamentary reporters in Accra yesterday.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful’s assurance comes on the back of the internet blackout suffered by some countries along the southern coast of Africa following the disruption to some undersea cables.
The disruption led to partial or complete internet blackouts in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Niger and South Africa, amongst others.
It estimated that a single line cost at least US$14 billion to construct, an investment the minister said could not be shouldered by government alone.
“I think what has happened has now focused our attention in the need to expedite action on getting that network up and running. That is a commitment we have undertaken and Cabinet has given us the approval to work towards that so that we wean ourselves on reliance on one or two strong companies.
“We are hoping that through that, we’ll be able to build more redundancy so that even the smaller companies can also ride on this network to deliver services,” she said.
Government, the Ablekuma West MP said, has “significant telecom and digital infrastructure asset” to provide that alternative to alleviate the effect of the lack of internet on business in the future.
Going forward, she said government was keen on implementing the 5G mobile spectrum to that effect.
“We will not auction that spectrum because it is only one or two big companies that can buy it and it will continue to create an even more difficult situation for us with the dominance of one entity.
“So we will build a shared infrastructure for a nationwide 4G and 5G. All the network operators can partner government on that,” she said.
Already, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said private sector operatives who are not currently working in Ghana are interested in partnering Ghana to build the infrastructure.
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
