Ghana to implement free roaming initiative for greater connectivity – Ursula Ekuful

Minister for Communications and Digitalisation, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West constituency, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has announced an initiative called the ECOWAS free roaming to improve connectivity in the country.
The minister explained that the free roaming initiative was adopted in 2016, but there were some challenges with implementing it.

Speaking on the topic ‘Digital Infrastructure to Bridge the Digital Divide’ at the Ministers Press Briefing on Sunday February 18, she stated that, in June 2023, Ghana entered a bilateral discussion with Cote d’Ivoire to implement this initiative.
She revealed that Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are the first ECOWAS countries to implement the free roaming initiative, which aims to promote greater integration and reduce roaming charges.

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The Minister explained that the free roaming initiative will allow subscribers from both countries to use their phones without incurring international roaming charges.
She announced that Ghana has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Togo, and hopes to have the free roaming initiative implemented by the end of the first quarter of 2024.

Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful stated that the National Communications Authority has also received interest from Benin and the Gambia to establish similar bilateral roaming services.

She added that the government to digitalization agenda has built about 1000 telephonies to help solve network challenge in certain part of the country

The Minister further outlined the successes chalked by the government’s online services portal, Ghana.GOV.
The Minister noted that since its establishment, it has facilitated the revenue collection of GH₵210 billion from 136 agencies using the platform for live payments. She said the platform has addressed many online service payment challenges.

For this reason, the Minister said it is untenable for anyone to compare the Ghana.GOV portal with the e-services payment portal established by the NDC.