Accra, July 30, GNA - Contrary to claims by critics of the sale of 70 per cent shares of Ghana Telecom (GT) to Vodafone International BV, that the buyer has no experience in fixed-line voice operations, documents available to the Ghana News Agency prove otherwise. A facts sheet obtained from the Vodafone Group in the United Kingdom states categorically that "Vodafone wholly-owns fixed-line (voice and broadband) services in Germany, Italy, Spain, Egypt and New Zealand".

It said Vodafone owned and managed fixed-line voice and data networks in Germany under the brand Arcor, in Italy and Spain under the brand name Tele2, in Egypt under the Vodafone brand and in New Zealand, iHug.

But for Egypt where Vodafone's share in the fixed line voice service is 54.1 per cent, it owns 100 per cent in all the other countries where it has fixed line voice services. Since news of the sale of 70 per cent stake in GT to Vodafone at US$900 million went public, it has raised many questions, with one of the claims being that Vodafone operates only mobile telephony services and has no experience in fixed-line voice operations. Dr Nii Moi Thompson, an economist and leading member of the Convention People's Party who has been at the forefront of the criticism of the Vodafone deal, has described Vodafone's claims of experience in fixed line operations as completely false.

He said if government did due diligence on the those claims it would find that in New Zealand, for example, Vodafone was just a client to an operator of the fixed line voice service and not Vodafone itself.

One other critic, Dr. Peter Quartey, an economist and Deputy Director of University of Ghana Centre for Migrations Studies, told the According the fact sheet, however, in addition to its fixed line services, Vodafone also has over 10 million fixed-broadband customers across 13 countries, served through both Vodafone-owned fibre networks and through wholesale agreements with other providers.

The facts sheet said Vodafone consumer fixed-broadband offered in markets through wholesale agreements included Vodafone UK, Greece, Portugal, Netherlands, Ireland, Czech Republic, Romania and Vodafone Malta.

"Vodafone has also managed the construction and roll-out of its own fibre networks in Germany - 50,000km of fibre cabling, with a further 4,000km planned in the next two to three years, Turkey: 2,500km of fibre cabling laid since September 2007.

"In India the company has 48,000km of fibre cabling, with 26,000km laid since Vodafone's acquisition of Hutchison Essar in May 2007. A further 35,000km is planned in the next two years," the facts sheet said.

Touching on the GT deal, the facts sheet stated that beyond the payment of US$900 millions to the government of Ghana, Vodafone would also invest an additional US$500 million into renewing GT's operations over the next five years.

It noted that Vodafone acknowledged the strong competition that GT faced from four foreign-owned telecom operators active in the Ghanaian market (MTN, TIGO, Kasapa, ZAIN and GLO), saying that Vodafone intended to develop GT as a world class company addressing its customers' total communications needs, including mobile, fixed, broadband and fibre. The fact sheet said in recognition of the challenges facing GT, the US$500 million invested would be used to bring a suite of Vodafone products and services to GT and additional required investment would be made so as to regain market share.

"We will leverage Vodafone's global scale and buying power to bring latest technology to Ghana, complete and integrate the national fibre optic network - bringing high-speed broadband and fixed-line services to the people of Ghana and supporting governmental effort to develop ICT in schools," it said.

It said coverage and quality of the mobile network would also be expanded across the country, including widening the EDGE network across major urban areas in the short term and bringing 3G to Ghana within 2009.

Investment would be made in staff training, equipment and resources to benefit employees and customers.

Vodafone assured the Ghanaian public that contrary to the assertion that its services in the UK were the most expensive and so it would be the same in Ghana, it intended to offer very competitive prices even for calls between Ghanaians abroad and at home.

"Vodafone will make Ghana Telecom part of an international network so its customers can enjoy a new range of products and services, including the mobile money transfer service (M-PESA), which enables people without bank accounts to access financial services," it said. It said customers would also benefit from ultra-low cost, high quality mobile devices which will lower the cost of access to telecom services and broaden enfranchisement, bring revenue from mobile phone roaming voice and data traffic to GT and access preferential pricing for using GT's mobile voice and data services, including 3G broadband, while abroad.

Vodafone would also invest in staff in the areas of customer service and IT skills training in Ghana, knowledge of new technologies and access to training courses and placements with other Vodafone companies, upgrade office equipment and working conditions in GT's offices and also nurture and promote the Ghanaian management within GT, the fact sheet said.

It said international career opportunities would also be offered to local talent and everybody would be given access to the Vodafone family and expertise.

"Vodafone will invest in the wider community in Ghana through launching the 'Vodafone Ghana Foundation' - a not-for-profit organisation which will invest in community health and education projects across Ghana and enable GT, through increased investment and resources, to take a leading role in the development of telecom services across Ghana, including in rural areas," it said.