The Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, on Saturday, 6th May 2023, has inaugurated two telephony sites out of eight rural telephony sites in the West Gonja Municipality of the Savanna Region.

The two sites are located at Mognori near the Mole National Park and Sumpini near Busunu all in the Savanna Region.

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful in a separate address in the two communities explained that the establishment of the rural telephony projects is part of the president's vision to expand telephony connectivity services to rural communities in the country and to enable them access opportunities for the development of skills and knowledge as well as the growth of businesses and the local economy.

She indicated further that the project is under the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) and is an initiative to connect the town and surrounding communities to telecommunication services which will save the government up to 60 per cent of the cost of traditional cell sites to provide voice and data services for over four million people in underserved and unserved communities.

This according to her will extend the national mobile communication coverage from 83 per cent to 95 per cent to greatly accelerate local economic development whiles improving people’s livelihoods.

The minister further indicated that the president is determined to establish basic Information Technology Infrastructure such as the telephony service in the rural areas in the country.

She said, “The President continues to attach great importance to ensure that Telecommunication and Information Communication Technology (ICT) facilities which can now be described as basic necessities of life are available in all parts of the country."

As part of her five-day working visit to the region, she also visited some of the yet to be commissioned sites that still have challenges to explain to the people in those communities that in the next 2-3 months, she will personally be back again to commission them since her outfit is committed to ensuring development is brought to the doorsteps of the people.

Mrs Owusu Ekufful indicated that, a total of 2,016 cell sites are being built across Ghana with about half of the total number now in full operation.