Govt to connect 4m rural dwellers to telephony services
The subscriber base of telecommunication service providers is expected to increase as the government targets connecting 4 million rural dwellers to voice and data telephony services.
The Minister for Communication and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, at the launch of the Ghana.gov platform in Accra on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, hinted that the government would do so by the end of 2023.
She said that the targeted persons are those in the remotest parts of the country who are either not connected to voice or data telephony services or do not receive adequate services.
According to the minister, the gesture forms part of the government’s digitalisation process and formalisation of the economy.
She said the government is making a “smart investment” in infrastructure to improve access to the latest technology to make available affordable and reliable broadband connectivity to Ghanaians.
“We are in the process of implementing a rural connectivity project to link the unserved and underserved areas of the country within the next two years. Some four million citizens will be connected to voice and data telephony services in the remotest parts of our country,” she said.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said that the government would transform the economy through a broader adoption of digital technologies across the country, adding that, “we are determined to promote digital inclusion and leave no one behind.”
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Touching on the Ghana.gov platform, she said, it would offer a simple and single convenience for all government services and make it easy for everyone to find and pay for government services.
The platform, jointly developed by three local companies, Hubtel, Expresspay and IT Consortium, she opined, would improve the government’s interaction with the citizenry through a public exchange.
To this end, a call centre to facilitate the processing of complaints, enquiries and guidance with the use and management of the platform is being established.
“The Ministry is also assiduously working through the Data Protection Commission and National Cyber Security Centre to safeguard and secure every personal detail,” she said.
“User feedback is important and an integral part of the growth and efficiency of this platform, so we encourage everybody to take advantage of this intervention and make good use of it,” the minister urged Ghanaians.
Dr Bawumi speaks about the Ghana.gov platform
Adding to this, the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said, the Ghana.gov would provide the “convenience of enabling all of us to pay for government services with our mobile money, our bank cards, our new GHQR code.”
He further stated that through the platform, “our fintech apps on our phones or at any bank branch will eliminate the hassle of going through long queues and hopping from office to office just to make a payment for a government service”.
Dr Bawumia indicated that the platform would increase the country’s revenue by an estimated GH₵3 billion annually by blocking revenue leakages though cash payments.
The Ghana.gov, the government’s single payment and revenue collection platform, can be accessed via www.ghana.gov.gh or by dialling the short code *222# on any mobile phone.