...No investment yet; Just a business plan...
It is now known that Norwegian firm- Telenor - is involvement in Ghana Telecom is limited to the development of a business plan to achieve the target of 400,000 lines in the next two years. This is contrary to the impression created by government that the Nordic company would deploy its technical know how, and resources in meeting that target. Government had all along maintained that Telenor was selected out of 12 companies to expand Ghana Telecom’s fixed network.

Earlier this week, it announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Norwegians, to among others fulfill the vision of providing telecommunications infrastructure in all areas with Senior Secondary Schools and training colleges. This is in addition to providing management expertise and technical services, improve quality of service, and extend service to under-serviced areas.

Telenor’s Chief Spokesman, Dag Melgaard has however explained in an e-mail copied to Joy FM that they are only putting together a business plan that would establish a realistic and common understanding of the development of Ghana Telecom over the next three years. It noted that, Telenor has no plans of getting involved, an ownership arrangement in Ghana Telecom.

Minister for Communications and Technology Felix Owusu Adjepong speaking to Joy FM admitted that Telenor is only preparing a business plan. He noted that government decided to limit the agreement to a Business Plan based on which a final contract will be signed. “When we picked Telenor as the company which presented the best proposal, we were immediately going to sign a Management Consultancy Agreement together with financing. But we realised that we had included a performance agreement as the criteria in measuring the selection.”

The Minister said it was realised that a performance agreement can only be presented based on a good business plan. “We therefore gave them a preliminary contract as Management Consultants and told them to use three months to prepare a business plan. So by the time we agree on other aspects such as shareholding, they would already have had a business plan that they will work with”.

Mr Owusu Agyepong said what Ghanaians are interested in now is a good telecommunications system and not the shareholding structure of Ghana Telecom. Telenor has extensive and fast growing business operations in a number of countries in Europe and South East Asia. It provides various IT and telecommunications services through various subsidiaries. Mr. Owusu Adjepong, despite confirming Telenor’s understanding of the MOU signed, says the Norwegians “know that we need to concentrate on good telecommunication rather than shares and that is why they politely said ownership is not what they are doing”.

Meanwhile, the Chief negotiator of Telenor - Norway Christian Ilamson has re-emphasized that the company’s understanding of its immediate role is simply to develop a business plan for Ghana Telecom. Speaking to Joy FM from Norway, Mr. Ilamson who led the Telenor negotiations with government said, there is currently no talk about investing in Ghana Telecom.

Government statements had created an impression that, the Norwegians would use their technical know how, and resources to expand Ghana telecom’s fixed network by 400,000 lines in two years. Mr. Ilamson says Telenor might in the future opt to join a consortium to invest if the business plan provides a favourable business outlook for Ghana Telecom.