2007 AGM at Alisa Hotel on the 12th of June 2008

Ghana Internet Services Providers Association (GISPA) on 12th June held a press conference for the launch of the report dubbed “Communications Policy and Research/Advocacy Report” with support from the TIPCEE project of USAID and an Annual General Meeting at Alisa Hotel.

GISPA’s direct contribution to the economy of Ghana as pointed in the report were in the areas of internet connectivity for public and private entities, schools, communities, employment generation, payment of taxes and human capacity development. Networking of Ghana’s economy, employment & H.R. development for ICT sector and IT-Enabled enterprises & networks were the indirect contributions of GISPA to the economy.

The report pointed out that Ghana had the lowest internet penetration compared to Senegal and Nigeria despite Ghana’s early start in 2000. Lack of regulatory capacity to enforce anti-competition policies and legislation, improper pricing of access to bandwidth, lack of regulatory guidelines for VoIP, lack of effective dispute resolution mechanism and high taxes just to mention a few, were GISPA’s regulator challenges pointed out in the report. The report also did show attempts GISPA had done in resolving some of the challenges notably the SAT-3 tariffs reduction in 2004, 2006 and 2007.

The report stated that ICT strategy implementation was not consistent and could not be sustained due to policy, regulatory and statutory impediments such as unclear role for private sector regarding ICT policy implementation, poor ICT policy institutional structures, pending draft ICT legislation since 2005 to mention a few.

The report recommended among others the need for NCA/GISPA forum for early resolution of GISPA challenges, experts to assist in resolving outstanding regulatory issues if necessary NCA Board to commission independent organizational audit to assess improved service delivery measures, Members from public and private sector stakeholders should be on Advisory Committees for IT, Telecom, Frequency Management and Postal Services, draft ICT legislations requires urgent enactment, and to facilitate resource mobilization for ICT infrastructure development.

The Annual General Meeting of GISPA was first chaired by Mr. Ato Sarpong then by Estelle Akofio-Sowah when Ato handed over to her.

Mr. Ato noted that GISPA has a good cash position and also that the association has grown from 18 to 23 membership stating there is more room for improvement. He commended the old board for a good work done in starting and building GISPA to the current level of success. He also mentioned the remuneration of services of the executive secretary which remained in arrears for more than 7 months due to the difficulty in regularizing the account but that has been resolved as some challenges faced.

At the AGM GISPA’s new constitution was adopted by all members. Ms. Estelle presented her administrations’ vision and plan which she titled “From Success to Significance”. She gave five (5) objectives that GISPA will work to achieve mainly;

To build value in being part of GISPA by promoting and protecting the interests of ISPs in Ghana.
To promote and protect the digital interest of our consumers in terms of quality, affordability, reliability and availability
To educate all stakeholders on best practices and policies to ensure the widespread adoption of internet access and services throughout the country
To provide industry perspective on policy formulation and regulation as it relates to the Internet industry and to act as an interface between government bodies and the wider public
To effectively advocate on ICT sector related issues through regular communication and corporate social responsibility programs for all stakeholders

Also GISPA will be guided by the following core values of integrity, creativity and sustainability, commitment to the availability of a free and competitive Internet services industry. In addition GISPA will be administered under the firm belief that all members should have access to an equal playing field.

GISPA draft Action Plan for next year will be to build on of GISPA’s organisational efficiency through its Secretariat, Board and all members, hold timely association meetings to ensure full participation of all members and the achievement of critical tasks, GISPA will actively seek other sources of revenue generation whether through private initiatives or donor support, GISPA will identify a clear focal point to lobby including the Ministry of Finance and Private Sector Development; international organisations including the African Union (AU), regional trade blocks in Africa which have significant interest in the development of ICT infrastructure, GISPA will consider a broader constituency in view of convergence in the licensing regimes across Africa were it will target associations representing; IT and software providers; Business Process Outsourcing operators; Content and application developers and others.

For GISPA to become a consistent and valuable voice on African Internet especially market opening and liberalisation of the communications sector generally GISPA will identify educational opportunities that will enhance and empower technical and policy understanding within our members, better promote GISPA and therefore all its members, create significance for the GIX and finally build a strong community development program including school outreach and press training.

Estelle recognized KNET for donating a new laptop to the secretariat for GISPA work. The meeting also recognized the contribution of AfricaOnline of a projector for GISPA’s board meeting and the AGM meetings. Eric also announced that NetAfrique has being designing the GISPA and GIX website for free as their contribution to the community.