Samuel Nartey George, Ghana’s minister of communications, has declared his intention to form an interministerial group to investigate and resolve the country’s exorbitant data costs.
His larger goal of lowering the cost and increasing the accessibility of Internet services for all citizens is reflected in this project.
The minister disclosed that he had already instructed the administration of the Communications Ministry to start the procedure.
It is anticipated that the committee will be established in the following fourteen days.
“Yesterday, I met the director and management of the ministry, and I’ve given them the running order.”
“Hopefully, within the next 14 days, we’ll be setting up an inter-ministerial committee to look at the cost of data,” said Sam George.
The minister promised Ghanaians that they would start to notice noticeable changes before the year ended, and he reaffirmed his commitment to reducing data costs.
“At my vetting, I said that it is my fervent belief that before the end of this year, we should see some movements in the data offerings,” he reiterated.
He underlined that working together and consulting with important parties, including telecom operators and industry regulators, will be the cornerstones of his policy-making strategy.
Sam George clarified that he had consulted with telecom CEOs on the viability and tactics for lowering data costs even prior to making the program fully public.
“Even before I sat at my vetting to announce this as policy, I had engaged all the telecom CEOs.
I’m going to be a minister who will engage industry. I won’t announce a policy without engaging the industry and getting their buy-in,” he stated.
The minister characterized his leadership style as a “reset” for Ghana’s digital economy, with the goal of encouraging increased collaboration between telecom service providers and government organizations.
“I told them, it’s a new dawn. It’s a reset. And so I engaged personally every single chief executive and the chamber as well to get their understanding of what I want to do and secure their buy-in before announcing it,” he said, speaking on Accra-based Joy FM’s Newsfile on Saturday, February 8.
Many Ghanaians have expressed serious concerns about the high cost of data, and both businesses and consumers have called for more reasonably priced internet services.
It is anticipated that this committee’s creation would result in recommendations that may influence pricing reforms, regulatory changes, and more competition in the telecom industry.
Source: newsthemegh.com