The draft National Broadband Strategy

The National Broadband Strategy seeks to achieve a 10% annual increase in broadband penetration and an increase in broadband bandwidth from 256 kilobytes per second (kbps) to 2 megabytes per second (mbps) between 2010 and 2015. Specifically, the strategy aims to help implement mechanisms for the reduction of broadband cost that achieves broadband penetration of 50% by 2015 from the current rate of 0.2%. This penetration will be contributing 6.9% to our GDP growth over five years, and approximately one in every two Ghanaians would have broadband access…
Read More |

Communication Policy and Research/Advocacy Report

This report has been prepared by Mr. Gilbert Adanusa, a private telecommunications consultant, commissioned by the International Business Initiatives (IBI), subcontractors to Chemonics International, on behalf of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association (GISPA).The report is based on comprehensive research on specific communications sector issues raised by GISPA as constraining the delivery of Internet service in Ghana. It is intended to be used as a source of inputs for the formulation of an evidence-based advocacy strategy paper including proposals for resolving identified issues through dialogue with telecom operators (fixed and mobile) and the regulator.
Read More |

Leveraging Technology and Open Access Models

In November 2004, infoDev commissioned a team from Spintrack AB of Stockholm, Sweden to carry out a study entitled “Leveraging New Technologies and Open Access Models: Options for Improving Backbone Access in Developing Countries (with a Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa)”. The Spintrack core team working on the project included Anders Comstedt, Eric Osiakwan and Russell Southwood…
Read More |

Global Diffusion of the Internet VI: The Internet in Ghana

Ghana was one of the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to gain Internet access. By 1996, three Internet service providers (ISPs) were competing. During the Internet boom years, 1998-2000, the ISP and Internet Café industries in Ghana grew rapidly. In 2004, policy-makers are struggling with the question of how to fund telecommunications deployment in rural Ghana. The question is urgent because use of Voice over IP (VoIP) technology for international voice calls ate away at Ghana Telecom’s profits; profits the company says it desperately needs to fund deployment of a new telephone network. By William Foster, Seymour Goodman, Eric Osiakwan, Adam Bernstein -2004
Read More |

Access to Computers and Communication Networks in Ghana

In this paper you would get a quick overview of Telecom liberations in Ghana after which the demand for telecoms, Internet and computers is still very high. Eric Osiakwan enumerate some of the efforts to address the need for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in education, health and rural entrepreneurship but restricting these efforts is the lack of first mile solutions to reach the rural poor. …
Read More |

3G Mobile Policy: The case of Ghana

Third Generation is the generic term used for the next generation of mobile communications systems. 3G systems will provide enhanced services to those - such as voice, text and data - predominantly available today. The technology concepts for 3rd Generation systems and services are currently under development industry-wide. 3G is based on today’s GSM1 standard, but evolved, extended and enhanced to include an additional radio air interface, better suited for high speed and multimedia data services…
Read More |

Is Ghana an Attractive Proposition for IT Services

Ghana is seeking to increase investment to make an early push into the sector and, ultimately, to turn itself into a major information and communications technology (ICT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services player. Some have suggested that Ghana could in time become the “Bangalore of West Africa.” This paper examines Ghanaian efforts to grow its investment in the ICT and BPO sectors and attempts to determine whether Ghana can be successful…….
Read More |

Africa’s Tech Gap

Set against a global economy characterized by rapid technological advances, intensifying competition and growing liberalization, this study examines the “technology system” in four sub-Saharan countries, with a focus on the transfer of technology, as well as its absorption and use, in the manufacturing industry. It analyses the main institutions supporting technology import and absorption in Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and draws comparisons with other developing countries, particularly industrializing countries in East and South-East Asia….
Read More |

Satellite Communication in Ghana

Busy Internet is a Ghanaian ISP that uses satellite connectivity to bring Internet to West Africans. The operations of this ISP illustrate the reliability, versatility and efficiency of, VSAT, (Very Small Aperture Terminal) networks in delivering fast broadband Internet services. This paper discusses technical, economic and regulatory issues relating to satellite networks as a means of bringing Internet to Ghanaians, and the challenges confronting the country’s National Communication Authority and the Ministry of Communications. Kwasi Boateng, Ohio University -2004
Read More |

Telecommunications infrastructure and its impact on ICTs in Ghana

Africa, like all developing regions in the world stands on the doorstep of a global information revolution that present a lot of opportunities. New technologies like the VoIP and IPv6 proliferate rapidly elsewhere and even in the developing world. Africa and for that matter Ghana can only take a fair share of this window of opportunities presented by this information revolution if it has adequate telecommunications infrastructure and a conducive environment. By Charles Amega-Selorm
Read More |