LET ACTION SPEAK NOW (APRIL 17, 2009)

LAST Wednesday, the Vice-President, Mr John Mahama, launched Vodafone Ghana and appealed to the company to improve on its services.
As a nation, we have come a long way from the days of Post and Telecom Corporation (P&T) and state monopoly over telecommunication to our current state of private sector participation and engagement in the sector. Currently, five mobile networks are actively operational in the country with the sixth yet to be launched.
With Vodafone Ghana being part of the global communication giant that boasts more than 280 million customers worldwide, it is our expectation that the new owners of Ghana Telecom will work and provide customers with the highest quality, as well as most reliable mobile network in the country.
Subscribers of mobile phone networks have had cause to worry about services rendered to them. Very often, subscribers have had to contend with frequent call drops. Responses such as the subscriber cannot be reached or the phone is either switched off or outside the coverage area have become the usual refrain and chorus. Even in the capital city, many places are not covered by mobile services.
Notwithstanding the challenges, Ghana has become part of the mobile telephony revolution worldwide through which telecommunication is being used to enhance commerce, health and even governance processes.
Today, we have such innovations as e-commerce, e-mail, e-governance, e-health among other products and the business opportunities that have been created by the advent of mobile telephony are just amazing.
The value chain of mobile telephony is quite immense; the sale of credits and mobile chips has provided job opportunities for our youth even in rural communities to put bread on the table.
In spite of the benefits, the DAILY GRAPHIC calls on the service operators to play by the rules and make the interest of the customers supreme in their operations.
We also appeal to the government to ensure that the players in the field are not only in competition but that the competition comes with quality services.
The DAILY GRAPHIC does not doubt the pledge by the new management of the company that it will operate a network that works following the rebranding of Onetouch to Vodafone.
It is early in the day yet to expect major transformation from Vodafone but it is the expectation of the DAILY GRAPHIC that the new management will live up to its pledge to provide efficient service to the people.