Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of telecommunications, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo explaining issues to Bisiness Guide Editor-in-carge William Yaw Owusu.
Posted on: www.businessguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Tuesday December 6, 2011
The Ghana Chamber of Telecoms is not happy about the persistent threats from the regulator to withdraw licences of operators over the issues relating to the industry.
“We have to be careful about the signals we give out as a country to investors who are here and those we hope to attract. Those who want to come in will look at those who are here and how they are being treated”, the chamber’s Chief Executive Officer Kwaku Sakyi-Addo has said.
The regulatory body – National Communications Authority (NCA) - imposed a total fine of ¢1.2 million on five of the telecom operators in the country for providing poor services for subscribers.
The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu subsequently threatened to withdraw the licences of the operators if they failed to pay the fines.
However, Mr. Sakyi-Addo, an ace broadcaster, yesterday told Business Guide exclusively that there are several factors impeding the provision of quality of services and must be addressed holistically without resort to threats.
“For us the issues in the telecoms sector go beyond the immediate question of the penalties. The issues are more far reaching than the penalties because the penalties are not what will necessarily solve the problem of quality of service.”
He said there are external factors that affect the industry over which the operators have no control citing damage done to operator’s underground cables as one of the impediments.
“This year alone there have been more than 400 fibre or cable cuts. In some instances it is due to theft, bush fires but by far the biggest cause is as a result of road construction. We are hard working together with the roads agencies and departments to address it.”
He said in order to avoid what he called “multiple trenching”; operators are collaborating to share the trench but that would also come as a cost explaining “that means also that if there is a cut it affects more operators.”
Mr. Sakyi-Addo said there is no gain or advantage to an operator if a customer cannot be able to access the network. Saying “The operators have invested lots of money and the only way they can recoup their investment is if you make a call it goes through.
That if you go on the internet you are able to stay as long as possible.”
Each operator would like you to talk for as a long as possible. So that should prompt you to ask what the problem of poor service is. If something that is to my advantage is not happening it hurts the operator. It costs $ 140,000 a month on average per operator to repair the cable cuts.”
He said apart from the fibre cuts, there is also the loss of revenue to both the operator and the government when subscribers are not able to access the network.
“The worst of them all is the damage to the reputation of the operator as subscribers are not able to access the network. Subscribers are justifiably angry because they are unable to make their calls. It creates a very damaging impact on the reputation of the operators. So no operator would deliberately want to allow quality of service.”
Mr. Sakyi-Addo said the cost of doing business in the telecoms sector is skyrocketing without meaningful returns and it is about time for the government to set clear rules and uniform charges that are reasonable enough to attract investor in infrastructure in the sector.
“ In 2009 telecoms mast which cost GHC 2,000 had reached 15, 000 plus fibre optic network of GHC 7,500 totalling GHC 22,500 in 2010 for one district. Their justification was that operators have money. How is this an incentive for mobile phone operators to provide infrastructure that will improve the quality of service.”
He said general utility excavation permit to lay cables is GHC 10 for every 50 meters while business operating permit for institutions including banks is between GHC 200 and GHC 1,000 but telecoms are charged GHC 9,000.
“If you place impediments in the way of companies that are providing infrastructure that would deliver that service you are obstructing the government’s long term goal of providing affordable services to communities. You are defeating the ultimate purpose of infrastructure.”
He said it is not appropriate for anybody to measure the output of the operators without taking into consideration the cost of business adding “You cannot also compare the telecoms sector to other sectors of the economy because they operate on different wavelength. What you can do at best is to compare what pertain in the telecom sector of the country to the same sector in other countries.”
“The industry needs support. There is a reason why there are six mobile phone operators. You cannot come and take money away when you have not invested. A license for operating is now pegged at $50 million. Before you roll out infrastructure you have to have huge investment.”
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