Business News of Monday, 14 February 2005

Source: GNA

GT to expand services to all Eastern Region districts

Koforidua, Feb. 14, GNA - The Ghana Telecommunication Company (GT) is to extend its services to the remaining six districts not yet covered by the company.

The districts include the Yilo, Manya, Fanteakwa, Atiwa, Kwaebibrim and Birim North.

The Eastern Regional Director of the company, Nii Armaa Fleischer-Brock, announced this after a five-hour float through the Koforidua municipality on Saturday to sensitise the public on the newly introduced U-touch cell phone service for the youth.

According to him, the U-touch has a 50 per cent rebate over the company's existing cell phone services; the One-touch and the new I-touch, which was targeted at the youth to make calls between 1900 and 0700 hours, "because they were supposed to be busy in school during the day time."

In addition, the users were to enjoy free first ten text messages daily, he said.

Mr Fleicher-Brock explained that the I-touch was a new post-paid package under which users would be billed at the end of each month. The company, he said, was to install a second GSM cell site in Kumasi by the end of the month to enable it expand its 174 new cell sites, with the Eastern Region getting 10 to augment that of Koforidua, Krobo Odumase and Anyinam.

Mr Fleicher-Brock said a new billing system would be introduced to solve the current controversies between the company and customers, when a modern switch is installed at the new Koforidua Regional Offices by the end of the year.

According to him, the project would also increase the telephone lines in the Eastern Region from 12,000 to 50,000. Concerning some telephone owner's fears about the suspected multiple allocation of their lines to others by some staff of the company, Mr Fleicher-Brock said the allegation would be investigated and those who would be caught would be severely dealt with.