Accra, Aug. 5, GNA - Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is to be decentralized to enable every district to have a broad band facility as well as ICT infrastructure, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Communications, said on Wednesday. He said the country would soon be demarcated into five zones and urged all telecommunication companies to take the opportunity to play a part in it.

Mr iddrisu was speaking at the inauguration of a 10-member Board of Trustees of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC) under his chairmanship. The members are Mr Twumasi Appiah, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communication, Mr Michael Kwatia Awuah of KASAPA, Mr Kwodwo Egyiri-Danso of TIGO, Mr Samual Nkansah of Vodafone and Ms Mawena Dumor of MTN.

The rest are Mrs Hannah Agbozo of ZAIN , Mr Bernard Forson Jr. of the National Communications Authority, Mr Kwaku Ofosu-Adarkwa of the sector ministry and Mr Kofi Attor, Acting Administrator of the Fund. Mr Iddrisu said competition should not call for boorish behaviour and asked the board to iron out differences between players of the industry and encourage the companies to co-locate masts to ensure environmental health.

Mr Amadu Seidu, a Minister of State, noted that government was committed to improving the access of communication services nationwide. The unique role of telecommunications in the overall socio-economic development of the country and the recognition of the provision of telecommunication services to the population were responsibilities that must be vigorously pursued at all times, he said. Mr Seidu said; "Government is also concerned about providing affordable access to complement the efforts of communication service providers to deliver a robust platform to aid the delivery of government services to the public in areas such as health, education, commerce and emergency".

He charged the Board to bridge the gulf in ICT development between urban and rural areas of the country by avoiding the creation of cleavages in development within the communities in the bid to respond to the challenges in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Mr Attor said GIFEC had as its mandate, the achievement of universal access to telecommunication throughout all the regions and communities by the year 2010 or before and also expand universal service penetration to at least 25 per cent of the population. The GIFEC, he said, would strive to achieve their set target and continue to deploy infrastructure and connectivity to the underserved and remote areas through the Community Information Centre Project. 5 Aug. 09