Ghana’s digitalization drive could be derailed if internet access is not expanded. The same could be said if the affordability of internet service continues to remain a challenge. To remedy the situation, experts have suggested that the government invest heavily in setting up the basic needs infrastructure for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecommunication companies to build.
This strategy, which is said to have worked for Ghana’s African counterpart, Rwanda, is one of the very few ways, access and affordability of the internet could be managed.
The comments were made by Christian Danso, the Upper East Regional Centre Manager for the Advance Information Technology Institute- Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence (AITI-KACE) when he spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East.
“For internet penetration, Ghana has made inroads in that regard. In 1999, internet penetration was really low. It was below the 30 per cent threshold. As of now, it has moved to between 40 and 50 per cent there about. This means that more people are now using the internet. More people are now using mobile phones and IoT [Internet of Things]to solve real-time challenges”.
“However, the hindrance that we have in Ghana is the cost of internet. It is higher than the average on the international market. Government can help by assisting the ISPs by providing the basic necessary infrastructure. Providing internet service is a very costly venture. Being business people [ISPs] they would want to make profits off the capital they have invested. Unfortunately, this makes the cost of the internet really high,” he said.
Mr. Danso also called on the government to foster a favourable, yet competitive digital space that will allow more ISPs to enter the market and begin to offer their services. He opined that “if there are more players in the field” the prices of internet could be beaten down.
Meanwhile, the Centre Manager for the AITI-KACE said while Ghana has made some gains in its digitalization drive, there are a few key areas that the country needs to invest time and resources into.
Speaking on the same platform, he said the digitalization agenda should be driven in phases adding that the implementation of the Ghana Card, the Mobile Money Interoperability and the automation of some of the systems at the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) are “bold steps” towards shifting Ghana’s dependency on the analogue system to a more profound and globally accepted system.
A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
