Acting Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Joe Anokye, has been confirmed as the Director-General of the Authority by the Public Services Commission.This confirmation comes almost a year after President Akufo-Addo appointed him as acting Director-General of the NCA.

Since January 2017, when Joe Anokye started work in an acting capacity with the NCA, he has led the Authority to enforce and enact some key regulatory decisions. In that period, the NCA has strengthened its mandate with key spectrum audits for TV and radio which have led to increase in compliance by players in the industry.

In addition to supervising the first of a kind mobile network operator (MNO) merger in the history of the regulator and between two (2) key operators (Airtel Ghana Limited and Millicom – Tigo Ghana Limited), the Authority has also constituted six (6) teams called Service Monitoring Owners to ensure regulatory compliance of the 26 services it regulates.

Other achievements over the year include supporting government’s agenda by enabling the MNOs deploy UMTS-900 in unserved and underserved communities to improve data penetration. The NCA has also installed a Network Monitoring System (NMS) that gives full visibility of the core networks of Mobile Network Operators (MNO), as well as the installation of Nemo Invex Equipment to measure all the requisite KPIs pertaining to CDMA, voice quality and LTE. There is also now a complete database on all the network infrastructure of telecom services.

Mr. Anokye is a Telecommunications Executive well vested in a wide range of Telecommunication Management, Telecommunication Networks and Cyber Security platforms in both public and private sector. He has over twenty-two (22) years hands-on technical and management experience across Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America. From January 1997 to February 2016, Mr. Anokye worked on several contracts at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland – USA as a Senior Telecommunications Consultant, including supervising NASA’s Global Mission Telecommunication Wide Area Network (WAN) technical team.

A talented and accomplished Technology Executive, Mr. Anokye has a proven record in leading technology transformation, improvement initiatives and aligning technology services with business objectives. He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Ghana’s communication industry and will be instrumental in efforts to expand Ghana’s communication network to support our developmental objectives or local and international organisations, including the Volta River Authority, Ashanti Goldfields, VOIP International Gateway for NITEL ‐ Nigeria, Sun Solaris installation & configuration for Ghana Telecom, GCB and Ministry of Finance and VOIP gateway for Westel (now Airtel). He has also been instrumental in the initiation and development of Internet Services in Ghana, Togo, Nigeria and Gambia.

Source: NCA

Bango has partnered with MTN Ghana to enable its subscribers to pay for content and services from Google Play with one click, charging the cost to their MTN Mobile Money account. MTN Mobile Money is an online wallet that customers can use to send and receive money, pay bills, school fees, insurance, salaries, top up MTN airtime and pay for other goods and services.

Bango said the new functionality was a “major step in broadening inclusivity for internet users in the region”.It added MTN customers without access to a credit or debit card would be able to access apps, games and music thanks to the deal.

Subscribers on the MTN Ghana network can select the 'Pay with Mobile Money' option in Google Play, charging the cost of apps, games, music, films and other services to their MTN Mobile Money wallet. This eliminates the need for a credit or debit card to purchase content.

Noel Kojo-Ganson, acting CMO of MTN Ghana, said: “The quest for digital content in the world and in our country today is enormous, but a convenient mode of payment has always been a bane to access”. He added the deal would allow its customers to “experience the bold new digital world.”

MTN Ghana said subscribers who would otherwise have no access to the digital economy, can now use the Google Play app store.

GSMA Intelligence figures for Q3 2017 placed MTN as the largest wireless operator by connections in Ghana, with a 47 per cent market share. Although recent statistics on the company’s mobile money share are unavailable, in a 2017 Bank of Ghana study, MTN was cited as having the largest network of mobile money agents in the country.

Tigo, Airtel and Vodafone’s Ghana units offer rival money services in the country.

Source: Telecomspaper

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications with Engineers of the Mobile Operators, yesterday visited the Eastern Region to engage in planned site visits with the Department of Urban Roads (DUR).

The DUR this year is constructing and upgrading roads in over 22 communities within major cities and towns in the Eastern Region such as Apedwa, Kyebi, Nsawam, Suhum, New Juaben, Denchembour and many others.

Road Constructions in Ghana, remain 65% of the time according to Operator Incident Reports; the major cause of damage to Telecommunications Infrastructure. Such damage affects the consumer adversely, depriving them of critical access to connectivity which hampers security and affects productivity of our people.

The Telecoms Chamber is confident such planned site visits will enhance collaboration between the Mobile Operators and the Roads Agencies to enable parties align on where existing infrastructure is deployed to ensure minimal issues arise during the Road Construction projects.

Another major advantage of these collaborations will enable Mobile Operators to make provision for ducts to be laid in communities where roads are being constructed. Such proactive measures will prevent the roads from being “cut” in the future when operators have a compelling case to provide data services in the communities.

Source: Communications Desk

The Radiation Protection Institute (RPI) led by Dr. Joseph Amoako and a fellow Scientist Mr. Philip Deatanyah, today paid a working visit to the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications to discuss issues of mutual benefits.

The bilateral engagement focused on the role of the two institutions to lead, direct and implement policy issues surrounding Telecommunication Masts and other associated issues related to Occupational Hazards, Maintenance and Health & Safety.

Dr. Amoako said “the RPI is committed to bringing together professionals and other stakeholders together to dialogue and engage in activities towards ensuring sanity in the permitting and citing of Telecom Masts as well as other Telecoms Infrastructure”.

According to Dr. Amoako, RPI, which is a body under the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, is committed to enhance its visibility this year with various activities to improve the safety, health and environment of Ghanaians.

On his part, the CEO of the Chamber, Ing. Edem Ashigbi indicated the Chamber’s preparedness to work with the RPI in scaling up public education efforts to enhance the longstanding debate about radiation from Telecom Masts.

“It is important that mobile phone customers understand that, Telecom Masts carry antennas which are 80ft up in the sky and do no pose any radiation risks to human lives. The attendance of these unlikely risks are monitored by the RPI to ensure the safety of Ghanaians are not compromised” said Mr. Ashigbey.

At the end of the meeting, the RPI offered the Chamber an opportunity to tour its facilities to understand in detail the work of the Institute, to which the Chamber gladly obliged.

Source: Communications Desk