There was near stampede on Thursday at the Sekondi-Takoradi office of the Ghana Telecom (GT) when anxious "One Touch" mobile phone users rushed there to buy phone chips being sold at the control price of 366,000 cedis.

Many users of the One-Touch mobile phone, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that they arrived at 6.30 a.m., but as at mid-day, they had not been served.

The customer service point, built two years ago to cater for such large crowds was deserted while the conference room of the Ghana Telecom was being used as the sale point.

This led to a near disaster as the doors leading to the main reception were locked to prevent the anxious customers from entering the main compound.

Some customers complained of severe headache, dizziness and pains in the hips and legs due to the long hours spent standing in the sun.

Sources at GT said the chip was sold at 366,000 cedis being the control price, adding that the weekly allocation was not enough to meet the large demand, thus the chips were being sold to "only organisations."

The source said that management changed the venue for the sale of the chips from the Customer Service Point to the conference room to enable them monitor the sale of the chips and prevent it from going into wrong hands. All efforts to reach the regional manager, Mr. Divine Kpetigo proved futile.