Executive Secretary at the Office of the Vice President, Dr. Augustine Blay, has urged stakeholders in the Technology, Communications, and Digitalisation industry to speed up work on the implementation of a 5G roadmap for the country.

According to him, government and stakeholders must work towards a plan which will ensure that the service comes into force at an opportune time that could boost the local economy.

Speaking at the third edition of the Mobile Technology for Development Conference in Accra on March 16, 2023, Dr. Augustine Blay said that Ghana and Africa must embrace emerging technologies to propel local economies and create jobs in the technology space.

“The decision of when to launch 5G is often based on a number of factors, especially in the local market that reflects the readiness of operators, customers, consumers and enterprises to roll out 5G networks and adopt 5G services and 5G enabled solutions,” he noted.

Dr. Blay continued, “As a government, we will work to ensure a congenial and enabling environment that will attract the necessary investment and facilitate the right use case for 5G, more fiber deployment and other complimentary connectivity measures to ensure we are positioned for the future”.

Touching on some ways to improve regulatory frameworks in the digital economy, Dr. Blay advocated for increased data protection even as more digital platforms begin to emerge particularly online.

“With more Fintechs and transactions coming online, it is vital that data has to be protected and not only the data but access to the back-end tools of these platforms require the needed protection”.

“We must also look at regulatory frameworks to ensure that clearances are put in place to ensure that platforms or systems being built are done in an ethical manner,” Dr. Blay added.

Meanwhile, this year's edition of the Mobile Technology Development Conference was held on the theme; "Driving digital financial inclusion in the real economy.”

The conference was attended by stakeholders in the telecom sector, policy and regulatory makers in government and private sector, banks, fintechs, payment service providers, electronic money issuers, Agritech companies, ICT service providers, and Edutech companies among others.





MA/FNOQ