Expresso Appeals for More Time Over Losing License

Appeals for an extension of the timeline leading to possible revocation of the license of Expresso have intensified with barely a week to elapse.

The workers’ union of Expresso, tells Citi Business News, efforts to secure an investor should turnaround the fortunes of the company, soon.

The Minister of Communications Ursula Owusu Ekuful has served notice the National Communications Authority (NCA) will be compelled to revoke the company’s license if it fails to improve its operations within the time offered.

According to her, the exercise is to sanitise the telecommunication industry by giving value for money and providing cutting edge services to customers.

But the Deputy Women’s Organiser for the Communications Workers’ Union and a worker of Expresso, Hildegard Ferguson Kraikue explains that revoking Expresso’s license will impact adversely on workers.

“What we are asking for is that at least NCA gives us some time between now and by the time of our license expiry and then they would know whether we have performed or not and then they can take a decision to renew or withdraw.”

Expresso has been saddled with a lot of challenges which have affected the telecommunication’s position in the market.

The development has equally led to unpaid salaries accumulating for at least four years now.

The local workers’ union believes that the revocation of the company’s license would adversely affect the payment of the accumulated salaries hence their call.

Meanwhile Hildegard Kraikue is optimistic that attempts to get an investor to revamp the company’s operations should turn around its fortunes and deepen the provision of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) services.

“We have had the consultant looking into our operations for about two years now and admittedly, it is not easy to get an investor for a company in the current situation that we are in,” she said.

Madam Kraikue added, “We have had several investors coming in but they realize that there is so much debt that they have to take on board and they are unwilling to pursue the move. It is not as if we haven’t done anything as a business.”