MTN, Vodafone, ECG, others Bag Awards at GITTA

Telecommunications giant, MTN has swept 10 awards from top competing brands at this year’s Ghana Information Technology and Telecom Awards (GITTA) at Kempinski hotel in Accra.

MTN won the CSR Company of the year, Customer Experience of the Year, Mobile Money Service of the year, 4G/LTE Provider of the Year, and Cloud Service Provider of the Year as well as the Mobile Operator of the year.

The company was also announced the IT Team of the year and Customer Service Team of the year.

Additionally, MTN’s Chief Technical Officer, Mr Lawal Rufai and the CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr Ebenzer Twum Asante were crowned “CTO of the Year” and “CEO of The Year” respectively.

Vodafone Ghana won in the Telecom Wholesale Company of the year, Digital Transformation Award, Telecom Brand of the Year.

Vodafone Ghana’s Yolanda Cuba also emerged Industry Personality of the Year whereas Tigo won in the categories of Connecting the unconnected and Innovative Partnership (through its partnership with Bima).

Airtel won the Telecom Business of the Year and Innovative use of Social Media category.

To the amazement of many, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) won the best MDA Website of the Year and Best Government use of Social Media for Citizens Engagement.

Speaking at the awards and dinner, the Minister of Communications, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful urged the winners not to rest on their laurels but continue to work hard towards more innovative solutions that can benefit the industry, customers and the general public.

She said Ghanaian entrepreneurs are developing many innovative applications to satisfy the needs of the growing public and it is appropriate that such innovations are rewarded so as to motivate them to do more.

Ursula Owusu mentioned examples to include “digital platforms for improving farmers’ productivity and access to markets, bridging educational gaps, facilitating virtual doctors’ visits and authenticating drugs to reduce the incidence of counterfeiting, transacting business on line, and paying for services from the privacy of their homes”.

According to her, there have been key initiatives such as the automation of Tax and Business registration systems which are already beginning to yield dividends, and upcoming digital platforms for procurement, immigration, parliamentary and judiciary services which are likely to transform the way government engages with citizens and businesses.

While confirming her personal commitment to continue to support the IT and Telecommunication sector in Ghana to grow, the Minister also promised to collaborate with the private sector to make mobile broadband services accessible and affordable to every Ghanaian.

In his welcome remarks, the CEO of Instinct Wave, Akin Naphtal indicated that the GITTA awards night is Ghana’s first and only platform for recognizing excellence in the ICT industry.

He noted that the awards represent the most respected accolade in the industry, celebrating excellence in innovation, product development and service delivery.