Communications Minister calls on corporate Ghana to support Accra-to-Paga Coding Caravan initiative

Accra-to-Paga Coding Caravan initiative

(Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful)

The Minister for Communications and Digitalisation and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has called on the private sector to support programs dedicated to the teaching of ICT skills to the Ghanaian child such as the Coding Caravan.

She made the remarks at the start of the 3rd edition of the Coding Caravan at Dansoman ‘A’ Cluster of Schools in Accra, which came off on Wednesday 12th June, 2024. The program, which saw about 200 female students and 30 teachers, selected from 14 basic schools in the Ablekuma West Municipality, being trained in coding using the Scratch program, 3D designs and printing, as well as Internet of Things (IoT), was in commemoration of the 2024 International Girls-In-ICT Day.

In an interview with the media, on the sidelines of the program, Hon. Ursula mentioned that such important initiatives can only be sustained and scaled-up if they receive the active support and participation of corporate Ghana.

“This is such a laudable program and the benefits of it will be seen in the lives of these people and our country in the next 5 to 10 years. It is imperative that we sustain it, and it can only be sustained through sponsorship and funding support from the private sector.”

“So I would urge all those who haven’t yet contributed to it to support this program”, she added.

On his part, Ing. Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, Chief Executive Officer, Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, spoke of plans to extend the Coding Caravan program and its benefits to students across the rest of the country, including the Northern Belt, through the Accra-to-Paga edition of the initiative. He also mentioned that part of the objective of the Coding Caravan was to get the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education to make Information Communication Technology (ICT) examinations “practical”.

“We want to use the training as a proof of concept that we can make ICT examinations for our children practical… Hopefully, out of this [training], we would be able to get some of the children to use these digital tools to solve problems around them,” he said. 

The Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, who encouraged the girls to take advantage of the opportunity provided through the Coding Caravan initiative, stressed the immense benefit of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and encouraged the pupils to pursue careers in the area.

Mr Kafui Amanfo, Director of Operations, IIPGH, stressed the importance of digital literacy for young people.

He described the Coding Caravan as “an inclusive activity” which would be extended to hearing impaired pupils at Mampong in the Eastern Region.

“Leaving the underserved communities behind will not make the digital communication agenda conclusive. We need to bring everybody on board this development programme,” he stated.

In addition to Ablekuma West, the 2024 edition of the Coding Caravan is scheduled to make stops at Shai Osudoku, Sogakope and Mampong in the coming weeks.

(The organizers welcome volunteers and support in all kinds for the rest of the visits in 2024. Kindly contact the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications on 0302730500 or at info@telecomschamber.org)

Source: Chamber News Desk with contribution from GNA

Telecommunications and EMIs Chamber’s engage NDC flagbearer on the Telecoms Manifesto

Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT) and its sister outfit, the EMIs Chamber of Ghana, have called for increased attention and support for the telecommunications industry as well as the digital payments ecosystem.

The calls were made during an engagement session between leadership of the two Chambers and the flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and his team on Monday, June 3, 2024, in Accra, at the secretariat of the two Chambers. The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications was led by its Chairman, the CEO of Telecel Ghana, Ing. Patricia Obo-Nai, Acting CEO of AT, Leo Skarlatos, CEO of MTN Ghana, Stephen Blewett, the Managing Director at Helios Towers Ghana, Angelo Govina and Ing. Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, CEO of both Chambers.

The EMIs Chamber of Ghana was, on the other hand, led by the founding chairman of the Chamber, Philip Amoateng, the Director for Telecel Cash, the Acting Managing Director of AT Money, Mohammed Alhassan, CEO of Mobile Money Limited, Shaibu Haruna, Edem Kpodo, the Operations Lead at G-Money, and other representatives.

On the NDC side, Former President and flagbearer for the NDC, H.E John Dramani Mahama, joined the two chambers with the Honourable Member of Parliament (MP) for Ningo-Prampram, Samuel Nartey George and other team members.

The meeting, which lasted about 2 hours, touched on key issues and challenges affecting members of both the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications and the EMIs Chamber of Ghana.

For the GCT, the following key issues were discussed:

  1. A conducive and supportive policy and regulatory environment
  2. An enabling tax regime
  3. Protection for industry infrastructure
  4. Cost of doing business and ease of doing business
  5. Indebtedness to industry
  6. Sustainable promotion of local content, among others

Issues discussed for the EMIs Chamber meanwhile included:

  1. Repeal of the E-Levy law
  2. Facilitating cross-border payments
  3. Driving digital payments for People to Government as well as merchant payments
  4. Enabling policy and regulatory environments
  5. Cost and ease of access to the Ghana card database, among others.

The meeting forms part of the efforts of the two chambers to share their key issues with all parties ahead of the December 7 elections, with the hope that the issues are captured in their respective manifestos and implemented once they come into power.

The flagbearer, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, gave his vision for the sector in which he had played active roles over the past 3 decades as Deputy Minister, Minister, and even Vice President and President. He assured members that all the issues raised in the Telecoms Manifesto and at the meeting would be dealt with, working in close collaboration with members of both chambers.

As part of both chambers plans to meet the flagbearers of the parties with representation in parliament, the two chambers are expected to meet with the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, on June 7, 2024.

Source: Chamber News Desk.

AT Offers Flood Victims FREE CALLS to All Networks

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Ghana’s telecommunication network, AT is offering free voice calls to the affected customers and communities in the lower Volta area, including Battor, Atorkor, Glime, Akplabanya, Sogakope, Anloga, Ayetepe, and its environs to help relieve the communication needs of its customers.

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MTN Ghana localised ownership inches to 24.1% — Still below 30% target

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Following the scrip dividend issued in quarter two (Q2) of this year, which resulted in a localization movement from 25.0 per cent to 23.2 per cent, the telecom giant has since achieved an additional 0.9 per cent localized ownership in Scancom PLC in Q3 2023, bringing the total reported localization to 24.1 per cent.

In its Q3 report on the performance of the company as published by the local bourse, Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), the company said, “localization of both Scancom PLC and Mobile Money Limited remains a priority for MTN Ghana and we will continue to work with the relevant regulators and stakeholders to achieve the localization targets”.

The company was expected to complete a target of 3 per cent local participation by end of 2022 but has not been able to achieve that.

Financial performance
MTN Ghana continued its dominance as the only profitable telecom company in the country having posted a profit after tax for GH¢2.8 billion. This represents a 32.0 per cent increase over the same period last year.

Voice revenue grew by 14.5 per cent year on year (YoY) to GH¢2.7 billion.

Meanwhile the company said the impact of the National Communications Authority’s (NCA) directive on SIM disconnections continued to impact our subscriber base, resulting in a 9.3 per cent YoY decrease to 25.8 million.

Against this background, voice revenue contribution to service revenue declined from 33.4 per cent to 28.1 per cent.

The company recorded a strong data revenue growth of 47.6 per cent YoY to GH¢4.1 billion. This is attributable to a 2.7 per cent YoY increase in the number of active users and continued increases in MB consumed per active user per month (+36.0% YoY).

This led to data traffic rising by 39.6 per cent YoY. The contribution of data revenue to service revenue increased from 39.5 per cent to 42.8 per cent YoY.

Mobile money (MoMo) revenue increased by 51.6 per cent YoY to GHS2.1 billion. This was underpinned by growth of 63.4 per cent YoY in cash-out revenue, a 63.2 per cent YoY increase in advanced services revenue and 15.0 per cent YoY growth in peer-to-peer (P2P) revenue.

The contribution of MoMo revenue to service revenue increased from 19.1 per cent to 21.3 per cent YoY.

Digital revenue decreased by 15.0 per cent YoY to GH¢96.3 million. However, the company said it has observed a positive turn-around in the third quarter, with a 3.5 per cent QoQ growth, and expect it to continue through the fourth quarter and beyond.

It said improvements made to its myMTN app, music and game offering helped grow active digital subscribers by 15.9 per cent YoY to 3.9 million. The contribution of digital to service revenue decreased from 1.6 per cent to 1.0 per cent YoY.

Earnings Before Tax, Debentures and Amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 32.6 per cent YoY to GH¢5.4 billion with a margin decline of 1.5 percentage points (pp) to 56.0 per cent due to the impact of elevated inflation.

“We remain committed to executing our expense efficiency programme, the impact of which continues to reduce the full exposure of the current macroeconomic challenges on the business,” it said in the report.

The company said a net finance cost increase of 51.5 per cent YoY to GH¢335.3 million for the period was driven by a relatively higher growth in finance cost.

Finance costs increased by 48.6 per cent YoY to GH¢528.3 million, driven by high interest rates and growth in interest expense from leases (IFRS 16).

This was mitigated by a 43.9 per cent YoY increase in finance income to GH¢193.0 million from gains on investments in fixed short-term securities.

Operational and financial review
MTN Ghana delivered a 36.0 per cent YoY increase in service revenue, driven mainly by growth in voice, data and MoMo.

This was underpinned by the continued execution of the company’s new vision dubbed: Ambition 2025, and sustained investments in capital expenditure (capex) to support improvements in service quality and the expansion of network capacity and coverage.

“We continued to improve on investments in technology and quality of service with total capex of GH¢2.9 billion spent during the nine-month period.

As part of the network expansion plan, we rolled out 193 2G, 196 3G and 193 4G sites, reaching a total of 4,455 4G sites nationwide with 4G coverage at 99.3 per cent. Core capex excluding Right-of-Use cost was GH¢2.2 billion.”

Tax compliance
MTN Ghana in its show of commitment and resolve to remain a credible corporate citizen, stayed tax compliant within the period.

It contributed GH¢4.0 billion in direct and indirect taxes, as well as GH¢313.4 million in fees, levies and other payments to governmental agencies for the nine-month period ending September 2023.

“Our commitment to socioeconomic development continues to be a priority and we look forward to continuing to play our part in Ghana’s sustainable development.

National roaming update
With regard to updates on national roaming, it said the company would help facilitate universal access and accelerate digitalization in line with Ghana’s ambitions of becoming a leading digital economy.

“MTN Ghana continues to be committed to making progress on national roaming partnerships with AT (formerly AirtelTigo) and Vodafone.

Discussions for a longer-term agreement with both companies are in the final stages of completion,” it said.

Source: Charles Benoni Okine (Graphic online)