My Purpose Statement at the 11th Knowledge Forum of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications

The purpose of the Knowledge Forum is to bring together stakeholders to share insight on the Telecommunication Industry, to seek ways to drive the Ghanaian Digital Agenda forward, which ultimately will inure to the benefit of the Ghanaian subscriber. It is a thought-leadership gathering.

The 1st one was held on the 9th of May 2012 on the topic, Sim-Box, Fraud,  efforts  to  fight  it  as  well  as  its  impacts  on  Telecom Operators and Governmental Revenues. Other events have included;

1. Gender Gap Workshop in partnership with GSMA
2. Future of FINTECH in partnership with C-GAP
3. Impacts of the Telecommunication Industry on Other Industries
4. and 7 other events.

The Telecommunications Industry in Ghana has driven a lot of change and development in almost all segments of the economy, from Agriculture, Education, Health, Electricity and Water Supply, etc. – It is the rails upon which other businesses run. As a Chamber we believe that it is our responsibility to lead advocacy that inures to benefit of not just our members but the country as a whole. We are constantly seeking opportunities to proactively contribute to the improvement of the policy and regulatory framework within which we operate to the benefit of all .

We also seek bring in new technologies that not only help our industry but other verticals. Our focus is to find ways of working together with other stakeholders to ensure that as a country we are well positioned to take full advantage of emerging digital transformation technologies including AI, IoT, AR, Big Data, 5G, etc. The question we seek answers to as an industry is; how do we help Ghana leap frog the digital divide that is a development gap? We believe in the mantra that we are in the era where we have to collaborate to compete and succeed. It is the reason why when we organize these Knowledge Forums, we bring together experts from all sectors of the economy to deliberate on critical issues and contribute to the body of knowledge.

Ghana is making a lot of progress within the telecommunications sector;

• The GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index tells a good story – Ghana has moved from an Emerging Country with index score of 45.84 in 2014, to  46.52 in 2015 and in 2016 grew to 49.19. At the last report in 2017, Ghana has now attained Transitioner Country status with an index score of 52.73. In the process Ghana has progressed from the 9^th position to the 4^th position on the same index within Sub-Sahara Africa. This has been made possible by our members working with policy direction from MoC and NCA the regulator within the Electronic Communication Space and other stakeholders.    
• Within Mobile Financial Space, the Industry while working with the Regulator, Bank of Ghana, have really driven the Financial Inclusion Agenda and have moved Ghana to joint 3^rd position with Tanzania as reported by the 2017 Findex report. With 3.8 million registered mobile money accounts in 2012 we have jumped 25.3 million accounts at the end Q2 of this year. This has spurned lot verticals and created hundred of thousands of jobs. We believe Digital Financial Services space holds a great key to unlock the Government’s Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda. We can use it to formalize the economy, drive the People-to-Government (P2G) Payments as well Merchant Payments. It is in this breath that we recommend to government to use Mobile Money and other Digital Financial payments systems to digitize government payments and see to realizing H.E the Vice President’s vision of ensuring that all government payments are done digitally. This will be a better means to raise more government than to tax Mobile Money, which will kill this great Ghanaian Initiative. Bear in mind that;
  • The addressable market for Merchant payment is about GH¢ 67Billion or $15.3Billion
  • The total P2G opportunity is about GH¢ 1.4Billion or $326Million

Today as we are gathered here to discuss a topic, which I know means so much to all of us as customers – Improving Customer Experience by Safeguarding Telecoms Infrastructure – For me the way achieve this improvement will be through multi stakeholder approach.

Improving Customer Experience is critical to our members the Telcos and TowerCo. It is the basis of competition among them and our members do not take it for granted at all. A lot of resources are spent to improve on customer experience on a constant basis working with the regulator NCA and other stakeholders.

However apart from the telecommunication network there other elements that come into play to ensure that you and I will get quality voice and data services. It is for this reason why we have gathered all these experts here to share with all us, what has been done, what is being done and what all of us have to do to safe guard telecoms infrastructure so as to improve our user experience.

Our invitation of these 3 institutions to give some short remarks before the main presentation is deliberate and strategic. They all have critical roles to play;

• Enviromental Protection Authority – A regulator in the space which provide permits for the installation of cell sites and ensure that these sites are operated in a environmentally sustainable manner.  
• Radiation Protection Institute of the Atomic of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission  – This is an independent Research Institute that is responsible for consultancy services and safety assessment of facilities that utilize ionizing radiation, non-ionising and radioactive material in medicine, industry (including Telecommunications Industry), research and education institutions.
• National Engineering Coordinating Team – This is a team of Engineers and experts from the Road Agencies, Utility Agencies and other organizations who operate in the Right of Way space. The objectives of NECT is;
  • To achieve encroachment free highways and arterial roads by 2022.
  • To enhance communication and coordination between Member Agencies to prevent damages caused to utility and road infrastructure.

Ministry of Communications, MoC,  and NCA continued to play critical roles in ensuring that our customer experiences continue to improve. I am sure that once we are done with the 11^th Knowledge Forum, taking these two presentations –

• Safeguarding Telecoms Infrastructure (Practical Market Cases)
• Managing Quality of Service (Industry Perspective)

We will all appreciate the roles we have to play to complement that of the MoC, the NCA, the TelCos and TowerCos to ensure that we continue to improve our User Experiences.

Yes Improvement of Customer Experience it is a journey not a destination so we will continue to apply the Kaizen Principle to constantly improve.

We are grateful to Starr Fm for partnering the Chamber to bring this event live to Ghanaians

Thank you very much & Welcome

This post has already been read 879 times!