Minister defends LTE auction plan, says Gov’t needs 83m to complete digital migration

Communications Minister, Dr Edward Omane Boamah has challenged the newly formed Ghana ICT Chamber to honestly explain to Ghanaians the involvement of their members, namely Surfline, Gold Key Telecoms, and Blu Telecoms in all the processes that led to the invitation for bids toward the new 800mhz frequency.

The Chamber on Monday raised concerns over what it said was the National Communications Authority (NCA's) intention to sell the next generation spectrum to foreign-owned telecom companies, saying the move amounted to “NCA's broken promises to ring fence the deployment of next generation Long-Term Evolution (LTE) capacity to Ghanaian-owned companies only”.

But speaking in an interview with Kwami Sefa Kayi on Peace FM's Kokrokoo morning show, the minister said government has well-intended plans.

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Play the above audio to listen to Dr Omane Boamah

“I didn’t even know such a chamber existed and so I will urge them to come to the ministry to introduce themselves for us to know what they do and how we can help…they should not misinform Ghanaians…From what they are saying; it can be that they don’t know what they are talking about or they have been misinformed…government says the auction is available to everybody and I want to say here and now that local content does not mean my friends…it means Ghanaian companies can participate in it and it will still be local content…” Omane Boamah indicated.

However in a sharp rebuttal on the same platform, the ICT Chamber said government had shifted the goal post by removing the exclusivity for indigenous companies that was created as part of the criteria for the first auction in 2013 for the current 2600mhz by which Surfline has now covered 3 regions.

Speaking for the Chamber, Mr Paul Adom Otchere who is CEO, said "this next generation of telcos is a most prized asset that the state must keep and retain for indigenous companies only."

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Click to listen to Paul Adom Otchere in the above audio

He cited examples of other countries that had followed this principle of indigenization over the award of LTE contracts.

At the close of the bid last Monday, four companies - MTN, ARAB, Surfline and Gold Key - had submitted bids.

Mr Adom-Otchere drew examples also from South Africa's famous indigenization policy called black empowerment to buttress his assertions. South Africa is the home of MTN.