Ghana Records 137.38% Mobile Voice Penetration

Ghana with a population of over 29 million people has recorded mobile voice penetration of 137.38 percent and a data penetration of 75.54 percent.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Communication, Ursula Owusu Ekuful at the 2018 Plenipotentiary Conference (pp-18) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Dubai.

The growth, according to her, is due to the enabling environment created by government for the private sector to thrive.

Currently, there are 20 Internet Service Providers in the country’s  telecommunication sector with an average download speed of 4.78 Mbps.

Recognizing the importance of digital equity, she said government is taking further steps to bridge the digital divide by introducing initiatives aimed at supporting and empowering the citizenry to embrace the use of ICT.

“It is ‘Digi-Time’ in Ghana. Our President is a firm advocate for the utilization of technology for the realization of all the SDGs and we are actively working towards that,” she stressed.

She also mentioned that plans are underway to improve the efficiency of service delivery in the rural and undeserved communities.

This according to her would be done through facilitation of ICT-based entrepreneurship and securing cyber space for the realization of the SDGs.

“Ghana is making every effort to provide a safe environment for digital participation through the establishment of Computer Incident Response Teams both at the national and sectoral levels, including CERTs for the financial and telecommunications sectors and established a National Cyber Security Centre.

Touching on Cyber Security, she said government has reviewed the country’s annual Cyber Security celebration initiatives.

The weeklong celebration has been extended to one month in order to create awareness across all regions of the country.

She asserted that the promotion of safe cyber hygienic practices through awareness creation and public education will be sustained and we are laying a special emphasis on Child Online Protection as well.

By: Emmanuel Yeboah Britwum