Publish status of rural telephony sites within 30 days — NPP tells gov’t

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on the government to publish a comprehensive status report on the Ghana Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project within 30 days.

The party is also demanding details on approximately 400 sites for which equipment was handed over before the change of government in January 2025, as well as the status of 46 sites awaiting connection through a satellite hub.

The call follows comments by the Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, on the Rural Telephony Project and the government's plans to upgrade rural telephony sites to a minimum of 4G.

“The record does not support that characterization. On rural telephony, the record does not support a description of neglect, and the figures are a matter of public documentation rather than opinion,” the NPP said in a statement dated Tuesday, September 8.

The party said the Ghana Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project was launched in 2020 under the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), with financing from a €155 million facility from the China EXIM Bank.

According to the NPP, the project had an approved target of 2,016 sites to serve between three and four million people in unserved and underserved communities.

The party further said an earlier phase between 2017 and 2018 resulted in the construction and activation of 430 rural sites, connecting about 700,000 previously unserved and underserved citizens.

It claimed that by the time the Akufo-Addo and Bawumia administration handed over power in January 2025, 1,961 sites had been constructed, with equipment available for an additional 400 sites.

The NPP also disputed suggestions that some sites deployed in 2024 could not technically be connected.

It said a satellite hub at the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT had been upgraded and tested to backhaul 46 sites in hard-to-reach communities.

According to the party, the sites remain unconnected because the contracted hub service has not been taken up and paid for, rather than because of technical limitations.