Sunday, October 7, 2012

NCR COMMITTED TO THE USE OF ICT TO DRIVE GHANA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH



The Dean of the newly formed Network of Communications Reporters Mr. Charles Benoni Okine  has pledge the network’s commitment to ensuring that ICT becomes a major driver of economic growth in the country, given the sector’s enormous and largely under-tapped potential. According to him the network will constantly keep an eye on government policy implementation in the area of ICT as a contribution to ensuring that the country gets the best out of every ICT project.
“If it is said that every 10 per cent growth in ICT in every economy results in an additional percentage increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), then there is no excuse why we should not make it a preoccupation to contribute to making the sector a lot more vibrant” he added.
Speaking at the official inaugural ceremony of the Network of Communication of Reporters at the Ghana India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT in Accra, the Dean reminded industry players that the Network is not formed to do the bidding of any player in the sector, let alone the regulator or the ministry, but further pointed out that network members will be as objective as possible ensuring utmost fairness in its reportage and advocacy work in the interest of the consumer.

He acknowledged the various transformations in policy direction in the sector which includes the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card registration; Mobile Number Portability (MNP) and presently the drive towards migrating into the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) which is expected to be fully rolled out by the end of 2014, and stressed NCR’s commitment to help in the education of the public on the digital migration for it to become another major success.

Mr. Benoni Okine then appealed to the ministry and other players in the industry to also help broaden the knowledge of the members through workshops and seminars to enable members better understand the issues so they can be in a better stead to pass on the information to public.
The ceremony which witnessed in attendance high profile industry players were sponsored by tiGO, Vodafone, Nokia,  Airtel, and Alltel Company Ltd.