Accra, June 25, GNA - Ghana Telecom Ltd and Alcatel Lucent have signed a loan agreement worth 33.543 million Euros under which Alcatel Lucent would supply equipment for Onetouch, the mobile unit of Ghana Telecom, to establish 411 cell sites.

A statement in Accra on Monday signed by Major Albert Don-Chebe (Rtd), Head of Corporate Communications, said the expansion project would enable Onetouch to cover "all substantial population centres" in Ghana.

It would also increase the capacity of Onetouch by about 60 per cent, reduce congestion to the barest minimum and improve service quality tremendously, the statement said.

The agreement was signed by Mr Dickson Oduro-Nyaning, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana telecom and Mr Oliver Jean-Baptiste, Sales Director for the Mediterranean Region, West and Central Africa of Alcatel.

The expansion project was scheduled to be executed in three phases between June and December 2007, Ghana Telecom said. "By the end of the implementation period, Onetouch will have enough capacity to activate over 2.5 million subscribers."

The statement said Onetouch was the fastest growing cellular network and the investment would enable it to continue to activate more customers as well as improve service quality and network reliability. "This investment will also allow Ghana Telecom to install fixed cellular telephones for customers in rural areas and peri-urban centres where copper cables have not been deployed. The company plans to install 20,000 of such telephones between June and December 2007," the statement said.