Ghana gov’t says constructing 780-kilometre fibre optic infrastructure
The Ministry of Communications is constructing a 780- kilometre optic fibre ICT backbone infrastructure on the Eastern Corridor of the country.
It would provide broadband infrastructure to the towns and communities along the route from Ho to Bawku.
The infrastructure, which would also link Tamale to Yendi would be connected to the existing national fibre backbone to promote the development of the sector irrespective of geographical location.
Ms Victoria Hammah, Deputy Minister of Communications, made this known when she took her turn at the Meet-The-Press series on Thursday to highlight preparations towards the upcoming International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Conferences in Ghana from October 1 to October 4.
The Regional Development Forum for Africa (RDF-AFR), is scheduled for October 1, while the Africa Regional Preparatory Meeting for the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-14) would be held from October 2, to October 4, both at the Accra International Conference Centre.
The Deputy Minister said the RDF-AFR would consider key trends in the development of telecommunications and ICT in the region and would aim at having open and interactive exchange of opinions and discussions from stakeholders to improve the telecommunication/ICT sector in Africa.
“It is expected that the outcome of the forum will serve as an input to the Regional Preparatory Meetings-Africa Region (RPM-AFR) and the preparatory process of the overall review of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS+10),” she said.
Ms Hammah emphasised that the active participation of Ghana in ITU activities had positioned the country as a favourite destination in Africa for the development of common proposals ahead of ITU crucial conferences.
She stated that Ghana stand to benefit by engaging with the industry sectors of member states and sharing of experiences and best practices.
She said Ghana had seen enormous growth in the telecommunication and ICT sector, including Broadband Development, ITU’s connect-Africa project, In-Country Fibre Development, e-Government Platform project, Cyber Security Initiative.
She said in accordance with the conventions and procedures of the ITU, pre-registration is being carried out exclusively online through Designated Focal Points to enable participation in the RPM and RDF.
“Local requests for participation must be submitted to the Ministry of Communications for registration as early as possible. The requests should be sent to the following addresses: [email protected] and [email protected].
“For international and non-Ghanaian delegates, the directions for participation are provided by the ITU at the following website address: (www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Confernces/WTDC/WTDC14/RPM-AFR,” she added.
Ms Hammah said she hoped that the two events would afford participants the opportunity to benefit from the initiatives taken by other Africa countries and leverage from their experiences to achieve the best.
An exhibition of Technology to expose the sophistication of Ghana’s ICT landscape would be mounted to demonstrate the sector’s accomplishments and benefits of reforms during the conferences.
The media accreditation was scheduled for tomorrow Friday, September 27, from 1000 hours to 1400 hours at the Ministry of Communications Conference Room.
Source: GNA