Ghana’s NCA Completes Strategic Plan

Photo Credit: NCA (Ghana)

The National Communications Authority (NCA) of Ghana has completed a project agreement with the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO) to assist with the development of its 5-year Strategic Plan. The Plan will help the NCA to continue facilitating the fast growth that the country’s ICT sector has witnessed over the last decade, over which period, for example, Ghana’s mobile penetration rate grew from 0.67% to 81%.

The Strategic Plan provides the NCA with overarching Strategic Objectives, including:
•    ensuring effective market competition,
•    streamlining spectrum regulation,
•    improving consumer relations and perhaps most importantly,
•    accelerating broadband communications in Ghana.

The development of Internet and broadband usage in Ghana has been slow to date, as in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. Much of this can be attributed to the limited penetration of fixed line phones, the traditional means of Internet access. Though the proliferation of mobile networks has helped increase mobile Internet penetration in Ghana to 22%, the number of broadband users is still low when compared with more developed countries. In light of the disparities in usage, Ghana’s Ministry of Communications and NCA want to see a substantial rise in the number of users in order to induce the multiplier effect broadband can have on socio-economic development efforts.

In addition to formulating new strategic objectives, the CTO worked with their counterparts at the NCA to design a new institutional framework for the agency to ensure the Authority has the structure and human capacity to meet its objectives. As well as proposing some changes to the structure of the Authority, the framework details training requirements that will help the NCA meet current and future challenges.

The NCA’s Director General, Mr. Paarock VanPercy said: “The Strategic Plan developed with the assistance of CTO has helped to further crystallize our most important goals for the coming years and it ensures that the NCA remains focused on serving all ICT stakeholders, deepening competition and fostering growth and opportunity in the ICT/Communications industry. This should in turn ensure that service providers deliver the best quality of services to consumers.”

Speaking after NCA’s acceptance of the CTO final report, the CTO’s CEO, Professor Tim Unwin said, “The development of new Strategic Plans by Regulators is becoming ever more important as ICT sectors become more competitive, complex and diverse. The CTO is delighted to have been able to assist the NCA with the development of its Strategic Plan that will enable it to seize the opportunities created by the improvement in ICT infrastructure and access. Collaboration between the NCA and CTO has been very successful, and the CTO looks forward to assisting the NCA implement the plan over the coming years.”

January 20, 2012/by actualize

GBI Highlights, Originally posted on the GBI Portal

GBI to provide telecom training in Tanzania

GBI is pleased to announce it will deliver a comprehensive training workshop to representatives of African Universal Service and Access Funds, and other stakeholders in African rural communications, at the CTO’s 6th Annual Connecting Rural Communities (CRC) Africa Forum, due to take place in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania from the 24th to 26th of August 2011.

The half-day workshop is being delivered as part of the Global Broadband Innovations (GBI) programme of USAID, which aims to catalyze the increased and equitable provision of broadband and related applications. The programme supports national governments to expand connectivity, as well as create and use development-related software applications and cloud services. It will initially focus on strengthening Universal Service and Access Funds (USAF), advising on appropriate ICT regulations and broadband strategies, as well as developing new business models that can incorporate low-cost technologies into existing mobile networks.

In addition to examining the latest trends in USAF, including issues of strategy, fund collection, expenditure as well as project evaluation, the workshop in Dar Es Salaam will also allow stakeholders to review various USAF development and assistance strategies.

Speaking following the confirmation of GBI’s participation in the 6th CRC Forum, GBI Program Manager, Joe Duncan, said “We know that access to telecommunications has enormous benefits, both socially and economically, to rural communities. This is a great opportunity to bring what we know about universal service to the men and women who are working so hard to provide rural connectivity in their countries.”

The 6th CRC Forum, which is organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), and hosted by the Tanzanian Ministry of Communications Science and Technology and the Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority, will serve as a platform for in-depth interactive discussions on innovative strategies, business models, financing mechanisms and technologies for improving ICT access in rural areas and realizing their socio-economic benefits with the participation of policy makers, regulators and various market players.

August 16, 2011/by actualize