Ghana has been lauded for taking initiatives towards improving internet and mobile penetration to rural parts of the country.

Mr Andreas Karlson, Head of Supply, Sub-Saharan Africa and Country Manager of Ericsson, in an interview with Times Business in Accra said the entry of fiber optic cables into the country had made access to data easier, a situation he described as very healthy for the Ghanaian economy as internet penetration would drive its Gross Domestic Product.

Ghana’s internet penetration increased from 5.2 per cent in 2010 to about 10 per cent in 2011, an increase of about five per cent in just one year.

The total cellular/mobile voice subscriber base in Ghana as at August, 2012, stood at 24,438,983 which is 98 per cent of the Ghanaian population estimated at 25 million, according to the National Communication Authority (NCA).

He said the entry of fiber optic cables had helped to collapse price and quality had gone up with customers getting more capacity and higher quality at the same price.

Mr Karlson said internet penetration in the country would be further enhanced, if telecoms deploy modern equipment.

The deployment of new equipment, he said would not only spread networks to rural areas but also reduce power consumption by telecos.

In a related development Airtel, a leading telecommunications service provider with operations in 20 countries across Asia and Africa, has announced that it has undertaken an end-to-end network transformation programme across its mobile operations in 16 African countries.

The programme, which is the largest of its kind on the African continent, in partnership with Ericsson, involved a comprehensive upgrade and expansion of network elements on all of Airtel’s African operations, including switching, radio, network management, data, charging and consumer services platforms and systems.

This network transformation programme, under which Ericson has deployed the latest wireless technologies, will enhance Airltel’s network capcity and robustness and help deliver best-in-class services to customers at affordable rates.

This also makes Airtel’s networks fully ready for next generation services that include high speed data and value added services.

Eben Albertyn, Chief Technical Officer, Airtel Africa said; “The customer is at the core of everythin we do at Airtel. The implementation of this transformation programme will enable us to further enrich our customer experience across the region.

He said it would afford Airtel to provide to its subscribers the best network possible while meeting the growing usage of mobile data.

“Our long-standing relationship with Ericsson gave us confidence in their ability to manage and deliver such a large and complex project,” he said.
Backed by 12,000 consulting and systems integration professionals across the world, over one hundred Ericson resources worked onsite to ensure successful delivery of this complex project-the largest network modernlisation programme in Africa’s telecom history.

Lars Linden, head of Ericsson Sub-Saharan Africa said, “In the transition to a networked society in Africa, operators are facing growing challenges in meeting the rapidly evolving demands of consumers.

The focus of this project was transforming Airtel Africa’s networks to meet current and future consumer demands.”

Source: The Ghanaian Times

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