1 GHANA INVESTMENT FUND FOR ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS.PRESENTATION ON BEYOND ICT INVESTMENTS IN INFRASTRUCTURE BY MR. PHILIP PREMPEH, BOARD SECRETARY AND PRINCIPAL ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER, GIFEC TO THE CTO FORUM AT MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE SEPTEMBER,2017

2 OUTLINE Introduction:New Investment Areas in ICT beyond Infrastructure Access to ICTs Policy Good Regulatory Environment Awareness Creation Capacity Building Development of Local content Promotion of IT Enabled Services Digital Inclusion.

3 INTRODUCTION Infrastructure is intrinsic to ICT for development. (ICT4D). It is the foundation upon which the ICT4D is built, the critical support network for enabling innovation, creating access, developing new markets and delivering ICT services key to improved quality of life. It is estimated that just a 10% increase in broadband take-up could result in between 0.9% and 1.5% increase in GDP growth.

4 HISTORY OF TELECOM IN GHANAFirst telegraph line installed First manual telephone exchange installed First radio (BBC relay station) opened in Accra First Radio station established at Cape Coast First automatic telephone exchange installed Ghana Television service launched 31 July Post & Telecom Corporation Frequency Registration and Control Board smcd Colour Television service launched in Ghana First mobile telecom operations launched First CDMA cellular network launched First GSM cellular operator launched

5 Broadband & Socio-Economic GrowthEnd of December 2016 Ghana had 69.91% Mobile Data Subscribers (Source: NCA 2016 )

6 SOME KEY INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS IN GHANANITA 980km fiber optic network, 120 LTE sites, 300km radius of Metro fiber. The Eastern corridor fiber optic backbone network spans 775km, linking Ghana’s north and south as well as international submarine gateways via its eastern corridor. Ghana has a total of 12.3 TB of data today through Main One cable, Glo1, Vodafone SAT-3, West Africa Cable System (WACS) and ACE but this capacity is on the coast of Accra largely due last mile problem.

7 KEY AREAS BEYOND INVESTMENTS IN INFRASTRUCTUREGovernment Policy Access to ICTs Development of Local Content Creation of Awareness Capacity Building Promotion of IT Enabled Services (ITES) Good Regulatory Regime

8 GOVERNMENT POLICY Convergence and Changing Roles of ICT.(Legal and Regulatory Framework.) Affordability of ICT services and devices Taxation Relaxation of import duties, tax breaks and assurance that investors can regularly repatriate their investment should be incorporated Need for Dialogue and Collaboration within Govt Sectors. Promotion of Public Private Partnerships. Governance and Supply of Public Services. Political Will (Leadership)

9 ACCESS TO ICTS Provision of Access to ICTs is also another key area which would require investments in order to bridge the local digital divide. In Ghana the strategy has been to use the Universal Service Fund (GIFEC) to provide funds towards the provision of Universal Access to Broadband and ICT. GIFEC has a Programme called the Cyber laboratory Programme through which schools, community centres, libraries and some government departments like the passport office are targeted and provided with cyber laboratories. For example

10 Provision of Access TO Broadband and ICTLibrary Connectivity 10 Regional and 20 District Libraries 10 Mobile Library vans have been equipped School Connectivity 435 educational institutions provided with cyber lab 15 Rural Post Offices Rural Payphone 2200 rural payphones have been installed in communities, schools and colleg Rural Telephony 65 completed and activated for voice and data traffic, another 100 being deployed this year in close collaboration with Huawei and MTN ICT for Sustainable Fishing 200 Fish finders with accessories deployed to 18 landing sites ICT Support for Disability Schools 2 equipped (Akropong and Wa schools for the blind) Community Initiated Projects 37 communities supported

11 The The mobile library computer laboratory at Breman Asikuma

12 LOCAL CONTENT The GIFEC Local Content Project, we seeks to empower educational institutions to fully utilize the ICT cyber labs provided to the various instituitions; examples of local content initiatives at GIFEC. . The College Management Software An Examinations Revision Software A desktop Television programme

13 AWARENESS CREATION The strategic objective of GIFEC’s Awareness Creation programme is to Support demand stimulation, capacity building, and public awareness initiatives to help increase utilization of ICT services and applications, and to enhance their benefits for the public. Electro Magnetic Effects and Human Health Seminars , Symposia and workshops on ICT4D, and GIFEC Projects Communiy Entry Programmes

14 EMF SESSION

15 CAPACITY BUILDING Capacity building is important if the society is to accept, adopt and use ICTs. There is need for publicity, debate and above all exposure to ICTs in order to build the needed requisite ICTs capacity skills. Promote training in software development, provision of ICTs service and ICTs resources development. (Coding for kids, apps development prog) Promote e-learning and use of e-learning materials. Standardise ICTs in the education sector. (standard curricula for ICT Inst) Embed ICTs literacy in the pedagogy of our schools, colleges and universities

16 PROMOTION OF IT ENABLED SERVICESPartnership with the private sector Conducive and an enabling environment for the development of ICT Business Incubation Legal and Regulatory Framework Commitment from Government

17 GOOD REGULATORY REGIMELevel playing field Transparency Convergence in Regulations New licensing regime Adapting existing regulations or developing new ones. It must be carefully managed to minimise inconsistencies among different regulatory instruments.

18 DIGITAL INCLUSION D4I Project Training of ArtisansLocal Heads of Departments National House of Chiefs The Council of State Prisoners

19 CONCLUSION Extending broadband communications requires investment in the whole supply chain (submarine cables, regional networks, national backbones and rural access); leveraging private investment; policy and regulatory reform, and stimulating demand for, and use of, networks. It is also widely acknowledged that access to broadband infrastructure, public sector capacity and regulatory frameworks are highly interdependent and need to be addressed in an integrated manner

20 QUESTION FOR THE DAY What will hurt you the most if your internet access is taken away from you?

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22 THANK YOU