Accra (Greater Accra), 3 March, '99 -

The partnership between private sector and the government has made access to telecommunication services less difficult, Mr John Mahama, Minister of Communications, said yesterday. Mr Mahama said this has resulted in a 100 per cent increase in subscriber lines in less than two years as well as a six fold increase in the overall network of Ghana Telecom, the former state monopoly. He was speaking at the opening of a three-day African telecom summit in Accra, under the theme: "Beyond Privatisation, what are the realities of effective telecom delivery?" The conference, organised by Spectrum International and co- hosted by the Ministry of Communications, brings together telecommunication stakeholders such as network operators, public policy decision makers and technology manufacturers It offers a platform for African countries as well as technology firms to market their country and corporate packages. Some topics to be discussed include "Africa in the liberalised telecom environment, telecommunication privatisation in Africa, satellites for Africa, what are the options? And tele-centres and options for rural telecommunications". Mr Mahama, who chaired the function, said the theme will erase the impression that privatisation or liberalisation of the telecom environment is a magic wand that instantly provides solutions to a country's telecom needs. He said telephone subscriber lines would be increased from the present 165,000 to 650,000 by the year 2002. " We are working in co-operation with the World Bank on a rural telecom strategy to ensure access to the majority of our people." Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, Chairman of the Council of State, who delivered the keynote address, said the logic behind Ghana's privatisation policy was to make a wider variety of services available to the public, provide better services, lower tariffs for end users and adopt more efficient operating entities. "Our experiment has yielded good results in the short term and is sure to yield even better results in the medium or long term". He said " before our liberalisation process, we had some 77,000 lines installed in 22 years that Ghana Telecom operations, an average of 3,500 a year. "But within two years of liberalisation, an additional 70,000 lines have been installed, that is 35,000 a year". Alhaji Bawumia urged stakeholders to take steps to develop the inter-African telecom infrastructure, as a prerequisite for the establishment of the planned and much desired African economic community. He mentioned universal access, affordability, minimum time to connect and reliable service as the response to the needs of people everywhere on the continent adding that the "dialogue to find lasting solution to our problems must be led by us Africans".