Newspapers must adopt technology to increase readership
The Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, has advocated the use of technology and innovation in the print media in order to increase readership.
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According to Mr Ashigbey, the application of innovation and technology is essential to increasing the patronage of newspapers.
Mr Ashigbey made these remarks when the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Mr Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, paid a courtesy call on him at the offices of the GCGL in Accra.
Reading and technology
In its efforts to apply innovation and technology to its products, Mr Ashigbey said the GCGL had introduced the application of the barcode module in all its newspapers which served as a means of providing electronic information to the reader.
“Readers of today are different and you need to innovate to attract them to subscribe to your brand”, he added.
Mr Ashigbey bemoaned Ghanaians’ lack of interest in reading and added that the lack of reading had an effect on the sale of newspapers.
He gave the assurance that the GCGL would continue to use its brands to educate the public on essential matters of public interest.
Chamber of telecommunications
For his part, Mr Sakyi-Addo said since August 2013, smartphone sales had outstripped the sale of feature phones due to the high demand for data-enhanced phones.
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He, therefore, called on the government to remove the 20 per cent import tax on mobile phones and communication equipment, adding that if the taxes were removed, more people would purchase them.
“This will boost the Communication Service Tax, which is tax usage and cannot be evaded, unlike the import duty which can be evaded through smuggling and bribery at points of entry and thus denies the government, the projected and much needed revenues”, he said.
Quality service
According to Mr Sakyi-Addo, the stealing of cables, theft of fuel and batteries and agitation against the siting of masts based on unfounded fears about electronic magnetic emissions, had an effect on the quality of service provided by the telecommunication companies (telcos).
He averred that Ghana was competing with other markets for investment resources and, therefore, advocated favourable policy measures that would attract the required investment for the expansion of the information communication technology (ICT) sector.