BACKBONE PROJECT KEY TO DEVELOPMENT

EVERY day, the digital divide between developed and developing countries widens because of the technological advancement in the so-called first world.
In our part of the world, basic communication tools such as telephones and personal computers are luxuries although some strides have been made in expanding access to them.
The world is truly a global village, looking at the ease with which business is conducted, but governments in developing countries have a lot more to do in order for their people to become very functional in the global environment.
Presently, calls within the sub-region have to be routed through Europe and America depending on which country the call is going to, in spite of the tremendous improvement in telephony penetration on the African continent.
We can make better strides in our development endeavours, only if our leaders would pay more attention to the communication sector. Good roads and an efficient transportation system and telecommunication sector are the prerequisites for accelerated growth and development. Those sectors require capital-intensive investments for which private-public partnership can yield the desired results.
This is why the Daily Graphic believes that the steps being taken by the government to seek private and donor support to expand the telecommunication sector are quite progressive.
Presently, the effects of these investments are visible throughout the country. There are four telephony companies operating and others are ‘knocking at our doors’. Mobile telephony services are available in the remotest part of the country even in areas without electricity.
Therefore, the Daily Graphic hopes that many Ghanaians would heave a sigh of relief with the completion of the first phase of the National Communication Fibre Backbone Project. The project, which was funded with a $30-million loan from the Eximbank of China, is expected to enhance communication in the country and to others as well.
Dr Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Minister of Communications, said yesterday that the government had committed itself to accelerating the development of the ICT industry because of the potential impact of a well-functioning ICT environment on employment, enhanced government services and growth.
It is refreshing that with the completion of the Backbone Project, the drudgery associated with accessing internet facilities in the country would be a thing of the past.
The World Wide Web has many useful purposes, as teachers and students access it to enhance teaching and learning, professionals access it to be more efficient in the discharge of their duties and, indeed, it helps in enhancing the daily endeavours of all who are computer literate and have access to it.
It is our hope that the government investment in the project to elevate Information Communication Technology (ICT) profile in the country would impact on the way of doing business to speed up the agenda to attain a middle-income status by 2015.