The Office of former President Jerry John Rawlings owed Ghana Telecom 5.2 billion cedis, Professor S. K. B. Asante, Chairman of the reconstituted Board of Directors of the company said in Accra.

Professor Asante was speaking at meeting of the Board with Regional and Sectional Heads of the company in the northern sector in Kumasi as part of their familiarisation visit to the sector. He said the company has to devise strategies to recover about 26.18 billion cedis its major customers owed as at March 31.

Government Ministries are indebted to the company to the tune of 2.5 billion cedis, Diplomatic Missions owe 583 million cedis, media houses and construction companies, 1.3 billion cedis, Security Services, 11.4 billion cedis and the Ghana Post 1.71 billion cedis.

In spite of the debt stock, the Company would extend its "ONE Touch" services to Tamale by the end of August, while Bolgatanga and Wa would have their turn by December.

Mr. Y. M. Adjah, Ashanti Regional Head of Ghana Telecom, said 16 out of the 18 districts in the region have telephone facilities. He said the only two districts Amansie West and Adansi East and parts of Bosumtwe-Atwima-Kwanwoma, which have not yet been served would soon be covered as feasibility studies on extension of service to those areas had already been completed.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Samuel Boafo, MP called on Ghana Telecom to explore ways of reducing the cost of its services and to repair all faulty lines in order to make telephone services more affordable and accessible to the average Ghanaian. He stressed the need for Telecom to focus on customer satisfaction.