Haruna Iddrisu cutting tape with counterparts from Togo and Burkina-Faso
The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu has commended Vodafone Ghana for fulfilling a pledge it made to the Government of Ghana in May 2009 by investing in the Fibre Inter-connectivity Project that will cover Ghana, Burkina Faso and Togo and some other West African countries to ensure speedy communication and transfer of data across these countries and the rest of the world.
He also praised Onatel Company in Burkina-Faso and Togotel of Togo for partnering Vodafone Wholesale in Ghana to connect the three countries through the project.
Hon. Haruna Iddrisu was speaking at the inauguration of the Bolgatanga-Cinkasse International Fibre Connectivity Project at Cinkasse in the northern part of the Republic of Togo with his counterparts.
He expressed the hope that the project would boost efforts being made by governments of these countries and other West African countries to get their countries integrated and connected.
According to Hon Haruna Iddrisu, the three countries- Togo, Ghana and Burkina-Faso were among other African countries that made a resolution at the World Summit on Information Society in Tunis, Tunisia to connect the rest of Africa to the whole of Africa under the Connect Africa Initiative.
He said with the level of commitment displayed by other African countries, the target will be reached.
The Managing Director for Vodafone Wholesale, Lucy Joan Quist, said the completion of the 120 kilometre Bolgatanga-Cinkasse Fibre Connectivity project will lead to an improvement in internet connectivity in the West African sub-region, create some jobs and improve the socio-economic development of the countries.
She was optimistic the project will open up the sub-region to create more business opportunities.
On the sustainability and maintenance of the project, Lucy Joan Quist said service assurance was a shared responsibility to be borne by the three telecommunication companies in Ghana, Burkina-Faso and Togo.
Commenting on how the Vodafone Wholesale was going to prevent cable theft and damage, the Managing Director of Vodafone Wholesale said the company has a very good working relationship with the various communities and was committed to the protection of the cable to improve service.
She noted that the company had fulfilled its financial obligations to workers who worked on the laying of the cable.
The fibre connection is expected to allow the free flow of the internet bandwidth in Ghana to the rest of the West African sub-region and effectively turn the country into a cable gateway.Â
Ghana currently has the largest number of cables in the West Africa sub-region and the implementation of the Bolgatanga-Cinkasse Fibre Connectivity Project is expected to attract a lot of investment into the country and also strengthen relations between the three countries.
In November 2011, the sod was cut at the forecourt of Vodafone office in Bolgatanga to symbolically commence the project.
The ceremony was attended by some government officials and chiefs from the communities where the cables were laid from Ghana to Togo. The project was completed in a period of eight months.
The Secretary General of International Telecommunications Unit, Hamadoun Toure, who was the guest of honour at the event, commended the three countries for their commitment and teamwork in ensuring the completion of the project on schedule.
From Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Cinkasse, Togo
