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The Telecom industry in Ghana has been a driver for economic growth, 
representing 7 per cent of investment in Ghana, 10 per cent of 
government income and 2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 
2010.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, Mr Serame Taukobong, 
made this known at a Stakeholders and Media Forum organized by MTN Ghana
 in Accra.

The purpose of the forum was to share an overview of MTN’s business 
performance in the previous year, its focus for the year 2015 and to 
assess the impact of MTN’s operations and the contribution of the 
telecoms industry to the Ghanaian economy.

Mr Taukobong disclosed that MTN Ghana’s total payments in tax to 
government in 2014 amounted to GH¢ 605 million, while in 7 years, MTN 
Ghana Foundation executed over 95 projects at the cost of GH$15.5 
million, and impacted over 213,000 people directly and 2.5 million 
indirectly.

He said among the projects, which cut across the areas of education, 
health and economic empowerment, were investments in Information and 
Communication Technology (ICT), the construction of libraries, 
dormitories, classrooms and the provision of scholarships from which 
over 800 benefitted, with a direct impact for more than 150,000 
Ghanaians.

The other projects, he said, were the construction of hospitals, 
refurbishment of wards and the provision of surgeries equipment, with a 
direct Impact on over 60,000 Ghanaians.

In addition, Mr Taokobong said, MTN Ghana supported micro 
enterprises, executed the business incubator project, supported 
surgeries for life-threatening ailments and embarked on the Y’ello Care-
 employee volunteer programme, and blood donation exercises which had 
raised more than 2,000 pints of blood for the some of the major 
hospitals in the country.

He said through the ecosystem of partnerships and suppliers, MTN 
Ghana had also generated 500,000 jobs while 46 projects at the cost of 
GH$ 1,843,250 had been approved for the first quarter of 2015.

Meanwhile, according to Mr Taukobong, GH¢ 460 million had been 
earmarked as total Network & IT investments in 2015, with 90 per 
cent of IT investment portfolio having already commenced.

He disclosed that from January to December 2014, MTN Ghana had passed
 all Quality of Service (QoS) monitoring tests conducted by the National
 Communications Authority (NCA) in all ten regions of Ghana, with no QoS
 fines from NCA.

On SIMBOX fraud, he said it was not in the interest of the operator 
to encourage the practice as both government and the telecom companies 
were all negatively impacted.

He identified the main driver for SIMBOX fraud as the arbitrage 
between the international termination rates and local call rates.

Mr Taukobong said to contain the practice, the removal of the fixed 
price would result in increased international traffic to Ghana, higher 
taxes for government or less profit for the SIMBOX, leading to reduction
 or elimination of bypass.

He disclosed that MTN Ghana was the first company in Ghana to be 
recognized as Investors in People (IPP) — a worldwide accreditation that
 recognizes high performance through people.

On challenges, he said the high load shedding environment from August
 2014 to December 2014 had increased Generator Runtime, increased 
Generator Replacements (more than 350 in 2014) while fuel load more than
 doubled to more than 2 million liters per month, comparing 2013 to 
2014.

In addition, he said, fiber cuts and battery thefts were affecting 
network performance, while it took time to identify and repair the 
damages caused, with repair and replacement of materials coming at great
 cost to the company.

Credit: itafricanews.com

MTN details contribution of telecoms industry to Ghanaian economy

The Telecom industry in Ghana has been a driver for economic growth, representing 7 per cent of investment in Ghana, 10 per cent of gove...