Gov’t will work closely with telecos to improve quality of voice calls-Sam George   

By Godwill Arthur-Mensah  

Accra, Jan.30, GNA–Government will work closely with the National Communications Authority (NCA) and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to enhance the quality of voice calls in the country.  

This will enable the government to raise the key performance indicators (KPIs) for MNOs and that those that failed to meet the KPIs would be fined.  

Mr Samuel Nartey George, the Minister-designate for Communications, Digital Technology, and Innovations, gave the assurance during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Thursday.  

On measures to safeguard the country’s cyber security architecture, the nominee said the Ministry would collaborate with the National Security to build synergies in the five interfaces of the security architecture, including public; industry and international relations on cyber security.  

Commenting on measures to expand mobile telephony nationwide, the Minister-designate said government would leverage funds from the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) to promote universal access to rural telephony.  

The nominee announced plans by the Government to undertake SIM re-registration, but this time around would use technology to cross check biometric data from the National Identification Authority (NIA) database.  

The cost for sim re-registration, the nominee stated, would be borne by the mobile network operators (MNOs) and not the State.  

Commenting on frequent cyber security fraud, the Minister-designate advised the public to be alert, noting that “no Member of Parliament or Minister of State would come to your in-box on Facebook to offer you a job, it’s a scam, beware!”.  

Commenting on unsolicited messages by individuals, the nominee indicated that data was a “gold mine” therefore government would re-tool the Data Protection Authority to protect people’s data so that individual’s information did not get into the hands of third party.  

GNA