Monday, May 26, 2008

First Phase of broadband Fibre optic completed

The first phase of the broadband fibre optic infrastructure has been completed and is undergoing testing before full operation, Dr Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Minister of Communication said on Monday.

Speaking at the official opening of the International Telecommunication Union's Africa Standardisation Development Forum and Preparatory Meeting being held in Accra, Dr. Ntim said the broadband infrastructure was expected to provide seamless, integrated multimedia services anytime, anywhere with lower fee to broadband internet by the year 2012.

The construction of the fibre optic transmission network is being undertaken in two phases covering over 4,000 kilometres. It is being supported by the Chinese government, with a concessionary loan facility of 30 million dollars. Government is also in negotiating for an additional 70 million dollars for the second phase.

The plan is being complemented by the building of 230 community information centres as access points for ICT in the rural communities in the country.

Already 90 of such centres have been completed.

"With the provision of ICT access points all over the country the provision of new services will become possible, and the government's vision realizable," he said.

Dr Ntim said since the development of the national ICT vision, the country had witnessed appreciable growth in the sector. For example, telephone subscription has hit the eight million mark, giving a tele-density of nearly 40 per cent.

However, Dr Ntim said there was need for increased public and private sectors investment to enable the goal of using ICT to accelerate economic development became a reality and to also bridge the digital divide.

"If the programmes and projects outlined in the national ICT roadmap are adequately pursued, there is every assurance for Ghana to break out of the poverty cycle and into the middle-income bracket in the not-too-distant future," he said.

Dr Ntim said the country will continue to participate in the International Telecommunication union activities to ensure accelerated deployment of new networks and services and also bringing connectivity to cities and towns as well as to the remote areas.

"Standardisation should contribute to the lowering of capital and operational expenditure in the deployment and expansion of core network," he added.

Mr Malcom Johnson, Director, ITU Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau, said standards are important to enhance international communications and global trade.

Besides they are essential aid to developing countries in building their infrastructure and encouraging economic development as well as help reduce costs for all manufacturers, operators and consumers through economies of scale.

"Global standards avoid costly market battles over preferred technologies, and for companies from emerging markets, they create a level playing field which provides access to new markets," Mr Johnson said.

He therefore urged the African Region to participate actively in the World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly to be held in Johannesburg in South Africa in October to enable them influence the future direction of standardization and to ensure that standards meet the specific requirements of the region.

Dr Akossi Akossi, Secretary-General of the African Telecommunications Union, said accelerated infrastructure was key to bridge the digital divide between the developed and developing countries. He pledged ATU's support in the area of resources to advance the course of ICT development on the continent.

The five-day meeting is being held on the theme: "Bridging the ICT standardization gap in developing countries for the Africa Region." The Africa meeting precedes this year's WTSA's Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa from October 21 to 30 2008 that would adopt working methods and approve the ITU-T work programme as well as appoint chairs and vice chairs of Study Groups. The Accra meeting is to deliberate on world standardisation issues of common concern to the continent and adopt common proposals for presentation to the WTSA
Source:
GNA

International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL) launch in Accra

An international computing forum opened in Accra on Monday with a call on the public, especially students, to patronize a programme dubbed; "International Computer Driving Licence (ICDL)", which provides an equal platform and standard training for all people irrespective of their location.
The ICDL programme is internationally recognized as the global standard for end-users computer skills and has been widely adopted by governments and international organizations in Europe and Africa.
Mrs Jenny Van Neikerk, Chief Executive Officer for ICDL Africa, said the programme delivered quality certification to everyone who patronized it throughout the world.
She said the ICDL, which took students through programmes like Concepts of Information Technology, File Management, Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Databases, Presentations and Internet and Emails, was skills-based and not specific to an inventor like Microsoft.
Mrs. Niekerk said the programme also focused on developing infrastructure with a special attention to schools including polytechnics and universities.
Mr. Anthony Harper, Development Coordinator for ICDL, Africa, who stressed the quality of the programme, noted that they adopted the same standards in terms of testing process and testing environment, and it was accessible to everyone.
Ms. Dorothy Gordon, Director-General of the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, urged ICT professionals especially in Ghana to make use of free software available on the Internet.
Commenting on the ICDL programme in Ghana, she said the programme made people who patronized it to be competitive and called for collaboration in terms of knowledge sharing on ICT.
"The IDCL programme offers skills that can be transferred to any platform," she said, and noted that the programme could help government achieve her vision of transforming the Ghanaian economy into a knowledge-based one using ICT.
Participants from Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Rwanda shared their experiences in the use of the ICDL.
Mr Ibrahim Bah, coordinator for the programme in French-speaking countries, said the programme which offered a common ICT standard was gradually succeeding in the elimination of barriers between French and English speaking countries in Africa.
http://www.modernghana.com/news/167105/1/computing-forum-opens.html

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Spio-Garbrah to deliver lecture

The Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Telecom Organisation, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah would deliver a public lecture at the British Council on Tuesday, according to a statement released in Accra on Friday. The topic of his lecture is; "The Future of Ghana's Development Process". The statement said the theme for the occasion was an e-Agenda for Human Resource Development with focus on education and health. It is being supported by the Ghana Renewal Institute, Centre for e-Governance and African Cancer Organisation.
Source:
GNA

Saturday, May 24, 2008

FON TV LAUNCHED IN GHANA



Emily Aggrey, IDG News Service




With a partnership between Black Star TV and South Korean company 2ii Tech, Ghana has become home to the first service in West Africa for mobile-phone-enabled TV content viewing. Employing Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB) technology, the new service allows users to view movies, sports, music videos, 24-hour news and current affairs.


Accessories and the handset necessary for viewing, known as FonTV, cost GHC350 (US$345.66) and include free service for the first three months, after which time subscribers pay GHC4 per month. The battery lifespan of the phone is three hours of viewing time on a single charge.

Ghana Telecommunication Company (GT), operator of Onetouch mobile phone service, is currently the only mobile network to operate FonTV, but South Africa's MTN and DSTV have plans to launch another mobile TV with different technology. The launch of the service comes after three months of a successful pilot program.

Ibrahim Adjei, corporate affairs manager of Black Star TV, said in an interview that Ghana's main attraction for the service is its "strong, stable economy [and] the conducive political atmosphere, underscored by a strong market of mobile penetration with the current seven million subscribers."

"Ghana also has a well-developed and innovative media, which facilitates our operations. The country also boasts of a good human resource capacity, with high enrolment in institutions offering Information Technology and Information and Communication Technology courses. All the above factors are buttressed by the professionalism and capabilities of the Ghanaian business partners that form Black Star TV."

Although Ghana is the first to embrace the T-DMB technology, countries like Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa also have access to Mobile TV, but rely on analog technology.

The new service, which covers the Greater Accra Region, will be extended to the Ashanti Region in the next three weeks, followed by the Northern, Western and Central regions, in that order. Managers of the mobile TV hope to cover all of the 10 regions by early 2009. The two companies will ensure the service reaches parts of Ghana where there is no television signal, he said.

In the future, the partnership plans to introduce e-commerce services to allow consumers to use the digital mobile television platform to trade goods and services, as well as a traffic watch service, with a dedicated channel on which viewers can observe (via networks linked to CCTV cameras) road networks that are free from congestion.

Beyond the delivery of digital mobile television, 2ii Tech and Black Star TV hope to establish a manufacturing plant in Ghana.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/146267/ghana_is_now_home_for_digital_mobile_tv.html

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Accra hosts World Telecom Standardisation Assembly

Officials of the Telecommunication Standardisation Bureau (TSB) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will meet next week in Accra to participate in the Africa Region's Preparatory Meeting for the World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly (WTSA).

The meeting precedes this year's WTSA's Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa from October 21 to 30 2008 that would adopt working methods and approve the ITU-T work programme as well as appoint chairs and vice chairs of Study Groups.

Ghana's host slated May 26 to 30, 2008, is to offer African countries the platform to deliberate on world standardisation issues of common concern to the continent and adopt common proposals for presentation to the WTSA.

Standardisation is a universally agreed set of guidelines for interoperability, and the ITU -T is the body responsible for setting globally accepted standards for ICT. The WTSA is convened every four years by the ITU.

The Accra meeting would organise a forum on the theme: "Bridging the ICT Standardisation Gap in Developing Countries" in recognition of the continued shortage of human resources in the standardization field of developing countries.

The Standardisation Gap is defined as disparities in the ability of developing countries, relative to the developed ones, to access, implement, contribute to and influence international ICT standards, specifically ITU recommendations.

The Ministry of Communications and the National Regulatory Agencies have in the past involved in ITU standardization activities to help in the standards requirements for new technologies and technological convergence in ICT that are creating major standardization challenges. 21 May 08
Source:
GNA

Monday, May 19, 2008

Role Of Community Information Centres In Accelerating Development

In this new knowledge-based society, access to information and knowledge have become essential resources for development.

As a continent, our future and survival depends upon our willingness to harness the new information and communication technologies. A nation unable to join this new economic order, unable to harness the power of ICT, is effectively locked out of the new global economy, and forced to remain a marginal player on the world economic stage. .

In Africa and other parts of the developing world, development agencies, non-governmental organisations and the private sector are searching for new and better ways to harness the power of information technology (IT) to meet economic, social, educational and development objectives.

Community information centres (CICs) are shared information and communication facilities for people in rural and isolated areas.

CICs range from a one room facility providing a narrow range of services to facilities that provide training and a wide range of development-oriented services. Generally, CICs can be classified into two broad categories - those with a purely commercial orientation, and those with a community/education service orientation.

Commercial oriented CICs are those established with a profit motive. They provide basic communication services such as telephones, fax and photocopying. A sizable percentage provide secretarial as well as computer-based services.

Community/education-oriented communication centres provide basic services to address the needs of a given community. Among other things the centres aim to

a) tap the untapped potential of the people they serve,

b) organise resources and expertise nationwide,

c) foster the emergence of local capability, and

d) promote a unique and comprehensive approach to servicing the multiple needs of people they serve through the innovative use IT.

While they are not profit-oriented, almost all of them charge basic fees for their services. Web-browsing at some non-commercial centres with donor support is priced usually at the same level as web-browsing at the commercial centres.

The Ghana Investment Fund for Telecommunications (GIFTEL) – a unit under the Ministry of Communications- provides a hybrid model of for-profit and non-profit CICs in selected locations in Ghana.

The primary focus of GIFTEL's CICs is to create rural access to information communication services. This is where the majority of the population live and face a number of economic, social, cultural and legal barriers to their advancement.

CICs in such environments provides opportunities for users to have access to electronic connectivity. Such access provides rural people with instantaneous information on what their counterparts in other countries are doing.

CICs are needed in such an environment because the transition to an information society usually brings growing inequality, since not all people are able to take advantage of new opportunities. CICs are innovative ways of addressing the multiple challenges confronting rural populations under a single roof, providing simple, single-point access to information and services to rural people.

Challenges Confronting CICs

Due to poor connectivity, inadequate infrastructure and human resource limitations, most of the centres provide very limited services. Low level of communication infrastructure in the rural areas make it difficult for such areas to be linked electronically. Rural communities, it is said, represent the 'last mile of connectivity'.

Currently, CICs operate in isolation. There is no centralization of standards, infrastructure, and services. There is the need for a coordinating body to bring some level of standardization and to determine the needs of existing CICs to enable them function better.

Such a centralised body could address issues such as equity of access; connectivity challenges confronted by some CICs, and human resource capacity building.

A national policy to drive the development and evolution of CICs will be a step in the right direction. Ghana, for example, has adopted an ICT for Accelerated Development Policy (ICT4D) to represent the ICT vision for the country.

POLICY

The policy statement sets out the road map for the development of Ghana's information society and economy. The document acknowledges the role that ICT can play in moving Ghana from where it is today to a knowledge-based society.

It addresses Ghana's development challenges and how the development, deployment and exploitation of ICTs could accelerate the nation's socio-economic development.

It also acknowledges the role being played by various organisations in moving the country's ICT agenda forward.

The need for champions advocating the development of CICs cannot be overemphasized. Generally, rural people are less aggressive in shaping new public policies and taking advantage of existing rules to enhance their prospects for connection. Without CIC champions, the evolution and roll out of the model will not be rapid.

Also, the time has come for African governments to begin exploring the possibility of creating a Rural Information Technology Administration (RITA) under the Ministry of Local Government. The failure of the market to deliver information services to rural people necessitates an aggressive initiative to ensure that rural people are no longer comparatively disadvantaged when it comes to reaping the benefits of the information revolution.

Alternatively, RITA could be subsumed under a larger body, the Rural Utilities Services (RUS). Such a body should be charged with the responsibility of bringing utilities (such as electricity, telephones, the Internet, etc.) to rural areas.

Today we truly live in a global village, but it is a village with privileged 'information haves' and many 'information have-nots'. With the new technologies available to us, we have an opportunity to change this.

I believe it is possible to achieve the goal of what has now come to be known as universal access, that is, community access to basic telecommunications at reasonable distance through the establishment of CICs across the African continent.

modern ghana

Mobile phone penetration in Ghana is estimated to hit 50 percent by the end of 2010.



According to Joshua Peprah, Director in charge of Regulations and Licensing at the National Communications Authority (NCA), the country, which currently has over 8 million mobile phone subscribers, has already seen 36 percent penetration since the end of 2007.

Mr. Peprah disclosed this on Wednesday at the launch of Fon TV, a collaboration between Black Star TV and GT Onetouch that will give Onetouch subscribers the opportunity to view television on their mobile phones.

The new product comes with GPRS compatibility as well as call conference and internet provisions.

All over Africa especially Ghana, mobile phone usage has seen explosive growth since 2004 and there are more opportunities ahead as the NCA will soon license a sixth operator, Mr. Peprah hinted.

As at December 2007, MTN, the largest mobile service provider has seen its subscriber base hitting 3.9 million followed by Tigo with over 2 million subscribers. Onetouch had over 1.5 million while Kasapa had 248,000 subscriber base.

In addition to the boom in the mobile service provision, there had been a 2.7 percent penetration in the internet sector with 34 operational internet service providers (ISP) licenses, he added.

Ghana signed GE'O6 agreement to complete the transition from analog to digital TV by June 17, 2015 and according to the NCA it will provide spectrum efficiency-1 channel for 4-8 programmes, new licensing models and potential increased revenue from digital dividend.

This innovation will mean a TV station like TV3 network could broadcast about seven channels such as kiddie and sports programmes, he explained.

On the way forward, Mr. Peprah emphasized that the NCA will continue to adopt and maintain principles and policies that foster development through private sector as well as ensure a pro-business and competitive regulatory regime.

In addition, he explained, investment opportunities in telecommunication, data and BPO spaces will be expanded.

Source:
Daily Guide