According to World Bank, the current size of Ghana’s economy is $66.98 billion, up from the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $4.983 billion recorded in 2000. This is even the 2019 figure and we are hopeful that if the 2020 figures are added, the total size of our national economy could hover around $68 billion. A number of factors have contributed to this exponential growth within a period of twenty years.
Among them is the telecommunication sector of the economy. Until the introduction of the then Mobitel in the mid-1990s, our telecommunication sector was one of the poorest in the world. But today the story is not the same, as almost every hamlet in Ghana has access to telephone services. The telecommunication companies are also leveraging on the revolution of the sector by introducing more innovative products, including mobile money transfer.
In fact, mobile money is, today, playing a major role in the national economy with the banking sector seeing it as a threat to their existence. Until the introduction of the product, Ghanaians living in towns and cities found it extremely difficult to remit money to their parents and guardians in the rural areas, but, today, it is one of the easiest transactions to do in the country. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Ghanaians have also been employed, thus helping to control unemployment, especially among the youth.
The telecom sector is also facilitating the growth of the various sectors of the economy, as Ghanaians are able to make easy calls to seal business deals within and outside the country without much hassle. Ghana, at the moment, is classified as a lower middle income country and looking at the way the telecom and other sectors are driving the wheels of the economy, we will become a proper middle income country in the next few years.
What Ghana needs now is the sustained growth of these economic pointers so that our march to this much-talked about middle income status is not truncated. This is the reason why the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government, led by President Akufo-Addo and Ghanaians as a whole, must consider as serious the poor services being rendered by the telecom companies since last year.
It appears to us that the networks of these telecos have been oversubscribed, thus making it impossible to render quality services to their clients. It is, therefore, not surprising that the call drop rate has gone up within the period being referenced, creating inconveniences for the business community, and Ghanaians as a whole. What has even come as a surprise to The Chronicle is the silence of the National Communication Authority (NCA) and the Ministry of Communication which supervise the sector.
The Chronicle does not believe that these two state agencies are not aware of the high call drop rate, which is affecting the smooth running of businesses in the country. In our view, the telecommunication companies are not showing much interest in addressing the issue, because the problem notwithstanding, they are still making their money so long as the customer keeps on calling.
The victim is the business executive who cannot have the platform to freely transact his or her business deal without any interruption. The problem of call drop is gradually creeping into the mobile money transfer sector as well. It is common nowadays to receive a message from the operator that the money one transferred to a relation could not go through. The usual message is: ‘Connection problem or invalid MMI Code.’
What is even more worrying is that sometimes the transaction will go through, yet this message would be received by the sender. All these problems, in our view, must be dealt with if we are to ensure the smooth running of the mobile money market.
The Chronicle is, therefore, calling on the NCA and the supervising ministry to wake up from their slumber and nudge the telecos to do what they are legally supposed to do to ensure the smooth running of businesses in the country.
Should the NCA fail to do its work, all the economic gains we have made over the years will slum and Ghanaians are going to suffer as a result. We, therefore, hope that they will act quickly in the collective interest of Mother Ghana.
The post Editorial: High call drop rate is a threat to businesses in Ghana appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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