Kenyan telco giant Safaricom has applied to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) for rights to land a submarine cable, per Business Daily. If granted, this would allow the company to construct and operate the country’s first undersea Internet cable owned by a telecommunications firm.
The move aims to strengthen Safaricom’s ability to provide high-speed Internet, improve connectivity, and reduce dependence on third-party cable operators. It also underscores Safaricom’s commitment to meeting Kenya’s rising demand for reliable, high-speed Internet, while also ensuring it stays ahead in an increasingly digital world.
Currently, Safaricom relies on providers such as SEACOM, the East African Submarine System (EASSy), the East African Marine System (TEAMS), and Telkom Kenya for its international bandwidth. Of these, Telkom Kenya holds landing rights for five submarine cables connected to the country, including SEACOM.
This move by Safaricom comes when the region is grappling with increasing network vulnerabilities. In May 2024, two major undersea cables — EASSy and SEACOM — suffered outages, leading to widespread Internet disruptions across East Africa, including Kenya and Tanzania.These incidents forced Safaricom to acquire additional bandwidth from other providers, spurring its decision to invest in its infrastructure.
Submarine cable landing rights in Kenya are regulated by the CA, with companies required to obtain a “Submarine Cable Landing Rights Licence” to operate such infrastructure. Safaricom’s application signals its ambition to achieve greater control over its international bandwidth supply.
Safaricom’s push for independence reflects growing competition from satellite Internet providers, particularly Elon Musk’s Starlink. Since Starlink’s entry into Kenya in July 2023, the satellite provider has disrupted the market by offering high-speed Internet services, especially in remote areas. This has led to a rapid increase in satellite Internet subscriptions and challenged the dominance of traditional providers like Safaricom, which controls over 37% of the fixed Internet market.
In response, Safaricom has expressed concerns about Starlink’s operations, arguing for regulatory measures to ensure partnerships between satellite providers and local mobile network operators.
As the year 2025 unfolds, AT is excited to announce the next phase of its journey towards innovation and growth. The company’s commitment to providing valuable experiences is driven by the continued support and trust of its customers.
AT has outlined several initiatives aimed at enhancing customer experience and driving technological advancement. To better serve its customers, AT is expanding its footprint by opening additional customer service centers across the country.
This strategic expansion will make AT’s services more accessible, bringing the company closer to its customers, no matter where they are. In addition to this, AT will be introducing innovative products and services designed to keep customers at the forefront of a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
These advancements promise more seamless convenience and engagement, transforming how users connect with technology. Recognising the crucial role of small-scale businesses in the economy, AT is broadening its Business-to-Business services to support their growth.
Alongside existing offers, the company is developing tailored solutions to empower these enterprises, equipping them with the necessary tools to thrive in a competitive market. To ensure a seamless digital experience, AT is making substantial investments in its network infrastructure.
The goal is to provide faster and more reliable data and call networks, enabling customers to stay connected effortlessly, whether for professional pursuits, leisure, or keeping in touch with loved ones. AT’s mobile money service, ATMoney, is set to unveil new features designed to offer greater flexibility and enhanced benefits.
These forthcoming innovations will streamline financial management, making it more straightforward and rewarding, in line with the convenience and security customers have come to expect from the service. Through its corporate social responsibility initiative, AT Touching Lives, the company continues to support and raise awareness about Sickle Cell disease.
Over the past four years, AT has collaborated with esteemed institutions such as the National Blood Service of Ghana, the International Sickle Cell Centre Ghana (ISCC Ghana), and the 37 Pediatric Sickle Cell Clinic.
Efforts have included creating educational content, donating essential medical equipment, providing financial support, and organizing blood donation drives to contribute to the education, prevention, management, and eventual cure of Sickle Cell disease in Ghana and beyond. The company eagerly anticipates building more partnerships to magnify its impact in 2025.
AT remains focused on enhancing customer experience, delivering value, and staying at the forefront of innovation. The company expresses gratitude to its customers for their continued support and looks forward to a year of success, greater connection, and growth. AT, Life Is Simple.
As AI becomes an increasingly dominant theme in telecoms, a recent TM Forum webinar explores how the technology could be used to create new services and ultimately, it’s hoped, generate revenue.
(Source: Skorzewiak/Alamy Stock Photo)
Mobile World Congress is only a few weeks away and it’s already clear that artificial intelligence (AI) in telecom, from predictive through to generative and agentic, will be a prominent theme, as it has been since ChatGPT first made its presence felt. A quick glance at the conference program alone makes it clear how much AI will dominate the agenda, with sessions on AI and diversity, on-device AI, AI and governance and more besides.
More nuanced operator approaches to AI in telecom are beginning to crystallize, meanwhile. For instance, Laurent Leboucher, group chief technology officer and executive vice president of innovation networks at Orange, distinguishes between “AI for network”and “network for AI” to explain how operators handle a dual focus on AI, whereby the technology is used to optimize networks on one hand, and support revenue-generating services on the other.
A key question that many will be asking at MWC is: how will operators generate value from their deployments of AI, and what should the next steps be now that the industry is, perhaps, starting to move a little beyond the hype?
Driving value
Recent developments in AI mean that operators have the opportunity to use the technology for new product and service creation, potentially creating new revenue streams as well as optimizing their own networks and operations. But where do the opportunities lie, and where do they fit into the value chain?
This was the topic of a TM Forum webinar on Tuesday, titled “Leveraging AI for service and value creation.”
Mark Newman, chief analyst at TM Forum, remarked that much of the industry focus until now has been on driving operational efficiencies for greater productivity.
“That can be one part of value creation. The other part of value creation can be creating new products and services, or enhanced products and services,” Newman said.
At the same time, he added, the idea of developing new products is “newer to operators, and it’s lagging behind. However … there’s a recognition in the industry that over a period of time, the focus on value creation will become as important as the focus on productivity and efficiency gain.”
To be sure, operators “have had a tough time building new value-added products and services. They’ve been endeavoring to expand beyond voice, messaging and connectivity for the last ten, 15, 20 years, without too much success,” Newman said.
For example, he made a comparison with operator attempts in the past to become public cloud providers. Ultimately these strategies largely failed, and operators became consumers of cloud computing services instead.
“Is the industry in a different position for leveraging AI for value creation than it was for cloud computing? … There is generally a view that operators might have always been behind the curve when it came to cloud computing, but when it comes to AI, maybe some of them are not so far behind. So they’re at an earlier stage in the exploitation of AI, to play an important role here,” Newman said.
Getting an edge
One topic that also emerged was the potential for edge computing with AI. As commented by Newman, “many enterprises will want to put their AI workloads both close to their own business and close to the network to guarantee performance, security, latency. So if that is the case, if that compute needs to be right next to network, does that therefore give telecom operators the opportunity to play in the edge computing space? Is it time to dust off those edge computing investment plans?”
Volker Tegtmeyer, principal product marketing manager at Red Hat, said edge will be key to avoid having to move all of the data to a central location.
“I think from a deployment point of view, the flexibility is key. It’s either edge or it’s a private cloud, or could even be a public cloud, if you want to start something … at a small scale,” he said.
Tegtmeyer added: “What we expect to see is that service providers will have hundreds of AI models. They will leverage agentic AI, predictive AI, GenAI, and they might actually combine it, depending on what they need, to at the end, build a service. Not to make things more complicated, but yes, edge is important, and it will be a part of a much bigger puzzle.”
Getting down to business
According to Newman, “we can be pretty sure that there will be an explosion in new AI-infused products and services.”
He cited examples such as enhanced voice services, where operators try to modernize legacy voice and integrate them with services such as Microsoft Teams. Or there are concierge services, such as GenAI-based tools to help manage everyday life, as well as the concept of “artificial intelligence of things,” such as the combination of AI with video capabilities.
Ryan Walton-King, global industry market leader, communications, media, and consumer services at Pegasystems, also pointed out that predictive and adaptive AI can be used to gain insights about customers and then determine the best way to engage them, “whether that’s via digital, whether that’s via a call center rep, and making sure that you’re doing that with empathy and with context.
Meanwhile, Richard Doughty, business development director at Cerillion Technologies, provided a couple of specific case studies of current AI implementations at telcos involving the deployment of AI-enabled catalogs and workflow. Here, he cited work with Paratus in South Africa as well as Ucom in Armenia.
Cerillion is “putting AI into the products to make them increasingly frictionless to use, and there’s a big focus on that ease of use, breaking down the interface … and then using that ease of interface with things like catalog to then help create products far faster, so reduce that time to market from weeks, maybe where it was 20 years ago, to days, really down to minutes now,” Doughty said.
Walton-King also made reference to work with a US carrier on what he called outage deflection using AI. “We’ve been able to deflect over 200,000 calls in the call center and identify outages 15 minutes earlier than when they could before,” he said. “A struggle for a lot of carriers is, how do we get ahead of these outages so that we don’t have people calling in? We can deflect calls, but even better, we can fix it before it becomes an outage.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) is set to transform the economy, as well as the lives of people around the world, ushering in the Intelligent Age.
It’s important to pay attention to the disruption that AI could cause, particularly to those already left out of the digital economy.
To fully harness AI, everyone needs access to the technology, as well as the tools, education and infrastructure that underpin it.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and generative AI (GenAI) has been stunning in its speed and impact. AI could add $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion to the global economy annually, according to McKinsey. And while we often hear about the promise of AI, we also need to pay attention to the careers, lives and communities it will disrupt – including those who have already been left out of our global digital economy.
In the US, for example, Black Americans are 10% more likely to be working in jobs slated for AI automation. AI is anticipated to disrupt 4.5 million jobs for Black people and affect jobs in sectors that employ many women such as administration, retail and customer service. This would impose billions of dollars of economic harm on both groups.
Further, biases in the data used to train AI models can proliferate existing prejudices, including by reinforcing discriminatory housing, lending, hiring and pay practices. Economic gaps between nations are also projected to widen as a result of AI because wealthier countries are better equipped to more immediately adopt and benefit from it.
Our urgent task, therefore, is to prevent new social and economic gaps from appearing in the Intelligent Age. This can be achieved by empowering all people to participate and lead in AI. That includes building infrastructure that supports AI enablement for everyone, including education on AI tools and access to the internet and computing power.
Closing the digital divide
At a minimum, we must eliminate the existing digital divide. Despite the rapid proliferation of the internet across the globe, over 2.5 billion people still lack access to it. Nearly a third of the world’s population cannot take advantage of online services that are essential in today’s digital world such as finance and banking, education and healthcare.
Divides exist within developed countries, too. In the US, nearly 24 million people still lack access to high-speed internet. This prevents millions of Americans from accessing the services only broadband can provide and from fully participating in the economy.
Closing these gaps will give the next generation of leaders the resources, education and technical access needed to master evolving technologies. We must also double our efforts to provide education around these tools. A combination of critical thinking and technical skills is essential for interacting effectively with GenAI.
In partnership with Stats Perform, an AI solutions provider for the sports industry and a portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners, SFI launched an “AI in Basketball” course at Morehouse College in 2023. This has since expanded to other HBCUs. These courses provide hands-on instruction in AI-use cases, preparing diverse students to be leaders in this field.
Another notable example is the work being done at internXL, which offers opportunities such as free training and certifications in AI, data science and machine learning, including access to over 500 AI courses. It also connects highly-qualified HBCU students with AI experts and employers for internships, enabling them to gain practical experience in the field. This work is bridging access gaps and ensuring that underrepresented talent thrives in the rapidly growing and in-demand field of AI.
It is critical that we do even more to close these access gaps in the US and across the globe, so that everyone can take advantage of AI’s benefits. But we must also ensure widespread access to compute, or processing power, to run these new tools and their applications.
Using the example of smartphones, compute was made possible thanks to telecommunication companies updating their infrastructure to handle 4G, 5G and LTE. But many communities did not receive these investments, and now lack equitable access to these resources.
To fully harness AI, communities need to have access to the tools and infrastructure that underpin the technology: computing power, requisite energy sources, and large language models and other machine learning and reasoning tools. This would also enable more diverse inputs to be included in the data on which GenAI systems are trained, enriching the models.
Instead of becoming a new economic wedge, AI could become a prolific source of generational wealth. So long as we take appropriate steps to prevent these tools from mimicking and reinforcing racial and gender biases, the innovation and economic growth AI would spur has the potential to generate prosperity for all.
With AI’s current trajectory, there will be three distinct waves of opportunity through which value will be captured. We are already seeing the first wave of value creation benefiting hardware vendors. The second wave will go to super scalers like Microsoft, Google, Oracle and other large companies that have the ability to broadly offer connectivity to compute. The third wave will benefit enterprise software vendors who provide AI and GenAI solution sets on top of their existing products.
These are the three distinct verticals on which we must focus efforts to enable equitable development and deployment of GenAI.
The good news is, unlike the digital revolution, we have the luxury of foresight. As AI evolves and established companies and new start-ups scale products, develop features and capture value at each stage, we must commit ourselves to ensuring everyone in every nation has access to the internet, AI education and tools, and processing power.
As we stand at this crossroads, we must think expansively and act decisively to ensure we unlock GenAI’s full potential.
In his third round of ministerial appointments, President john Dramani Mahama has nominated Samuel Nartey George (MP) to head the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations.
This is contained in a statement issued and signed by the Spokesperson of the President Felix Ofosu Kwakye on Tuesday (21 January).
The nomination of the former Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s Communications Committee, follows weeks of speculation about who will become the sector minister for the critical telecommunications sector.
The Road Ahead
When confirmed as Minister of Communication, Digital Technology, and Innovations, Sam George is expected to lead initiatives that will drive Ghana’s digital transformation. Key priorities will likely include:
Building a conducive and supportive policy and regulatory environment.
Championing the review of the tax regime especially as it pertains to smartphones, industry-specific taxes, VAT and levies on imported services among others.
Championing the protection of industry infrastructure.
Implementation of measures to reduce the cost of doing business and ease of doing business in the telecommunications industry.
Tackling the indebtedness of government to industry players.
Etc.
Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications congratulates Samuel Nartey George
The leadership of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, having worked with the former Deputy Ranking Member, has congratulated him and expressed hope of a collaborative and harmonious working relationship that will lead to the growth of the entire industry for the benefit of mother Ghana.
Ghana has emerged as the leading country in the world when it comes to countries with regulatory frameworks that enable widespread mobile money adoption.
This was contained in the 2024 Mobile Money Regulatory Index (MMRI) by the GSMA, which is a global organisation unifying the mobile ecosystem. Ghana beat 89 other countries including the likes of Brazil, Mexico, Rwanda, and Qatar to claim the top spot with a leading Index Score of “95.06” points. The other countries that rounded up the top were Rwanda (95 points), Qatar (94.21 points), Malawi (93.88 points)and El Salvador (93.75 points).
(The top 10 countries. Source: GSMA)
The breakdown
The Mobile Money Regulatory Index (MMRI) which has 6 broad dimensions, is further broken down into 40 indicators which are scored according to relevant criteria assessment. While Ghana scored a perfect 100 points in 3 of the 6 dimensions, including “Transparency and Disclosure Requirements”, “Authorisation” and “Consumer Protection”, it recorded a low figure of 83.75 points under the “PolicyEnablement” dimension due to its poor performance under the “Taxation (0 points)” indicator.
(Source: GSMA)
Impact of the E-Levy
A further interrogation of the data showed that the presence of discriminatory taxation (mobile-specific taxes) imposed on mobile money services in Ghana impacted the score recorded under the “Taxation (0 points)” indicator. The absence of the E-Levy and any other discriminatory taxes on mobile money would have led to Ghana being awarded 100 points which would have seen the country’s world-leading score of 95.06 points rise further.
The Index
According to the GSMA, the Mobile Money Regulatory Index was first developed in 2018 to provide a non-binary and objective assessment of the extent to which regulatory frameworks enable mobile money services to thrive. Until 2021, the index was comprised of 28 indicators clustered in six dimensions, with each indicator scored based on both qualitative and quantitative scoring metrics.
The key regulation issues forecast to be top of mind in 2025 include artificial intelligence, data protection, the digital economy, digital public infrastructure, and competition.
(Source: https://www.menosfios.com/)
As the new year gets underway, technology and its related business environment will be characterized by numerous policy and regulatory discussions around the need to address ongoing and emerging issues, either through revisions to existing frameworks or the formulation of new measures and approaches to market regulation.
With the ongoing evolution of technology and the changing complexion of the marketplace, there is a need to provide an enabling environment in which innovation, consumer and business interests are protected, while at the same time appreciating that such deliberations and resulting actions can never really define any end games for a sector that is constantly in flux.
Some of the key issues that will occupy discussions among policy makers, regulators, civil society and the business community include artificial intelligence (AI), the digital economy, digital public infrastructure (DPI), data protection, and competition.
To a lesser but equally crucial extent, ongoing discussions on improving data protection, social media and cybersecurity frameworks can be expected to continue.
Artificial intelligence
AI regulation was one of the areas of key focus across the continent in 2024.
Two main sides emerged – one was against regulation, reasoning that regulating AI would stifle innovation and slow adoption. The other side looked beyond innovation and adoption and viewing AI through a consumer protection lens, looking at the possible harmful and ethical issues relating to AI.
While there have been huge advances and greater adoption of AI across different sectors – with some already demonstrating tangible benefits – AI has also brought with it unsavory application areas. These include using AI as a tool to enable cybercrime (for financial fraud, phishing and social engineering) as well as in the social and political space with misuse intended to spread falsehoods and misinformation via AI altered text, images or videos.
AI regulation will still be a key focus across the continent in 2025. (Source: Image by DC Studio on Freepik)
Existing laws relating to data protection and privacy, cybersecurity, and misuse of computers and intellectual property, have been useful in the interim as a framework to address some of these areas, but in most cases they are not explicit enough to tackle these problems squarely and with any degree of finality.
At a continental level, AI has been discussed at the Africa Union (AU), where a draft policy was published in 2024, with several countries already making individual pronouncements in the form of sector guidelines.
Looking ahead, the way forward will very likely be paved with soft regulations that take the form of guiding principles to which all stakeholders must adhere, while at the same time continuing to draw on or amend existing regulations.
The steady march by business and consumers into the digital sphere, as well as the need to address the requirements of tech-savvy consumers who require new channels to transact, is bringing about the gradual realization of digital economies, with more and more organizations undergoing digital transformation.
One natural consequence of the shift into virtual spaces is the need to ensure tax collection is not affected; authorities are continuing to explore modalities that allow them visibility over the amount of business that happens online.
This has necessitated different measures to gain visibility over business that happens online. Current measures include the onerous task of conducting audits of business and individuals using different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, as well as e-commerce platforms, as well as compelling providers (including telcos, streaming services and platform providers) to add levies to their subscription fees, in order to reduce the administrative load on revenue authorities.
In some cases, sizing up the digital space has involved working with payment gateway operators who have good visibility over such transactions between businesses and consumers.
Broadly speaking, the legal framework on which digital economies can be enabled includes laws, polices and guidelines that touch on taxation, data protection and privacy, intellectual property and social media use.
During 2024, several African countries adopted different approaches to handing the digital economy, and it can be expected that, during 2025, these measures and existing laws will undergo further streamlining, amendment and harmonization.
Digital public infrastructure (DPI)
While DPI is still largely nascent, the push by governments and multilateral development agencies (whose ambitions relate to closing the digital divide and supporting transparency, among other areas) is something that will merit a review of existing laws.
Many have bearing on how DPI can be enabled since DPI inherently raises concerns about data protection, fraud, freedom of information, mobile payment regulation, digital identities and infrastructure sharing.
Thus, it can be expected that discussions on implementing DPI will pick up pace as different stakeholders explore modalities on how this can be leveraged to deliver services to citizens.
Competition
The move by satellite providers in different countries into the connectivity space is being met with some degree of consternation by some local Internet service providers and mobile operators, who mostly claim it makes the playing field uneven for them, with some indicating that such players are not subjected to the same regulatory oversight as local players.
In some cases, local players are the ones who have taken the initiative to strike deals with satellite operators who offer direct to mobile connectivity arrangements that allow them to plug voice and data coverage gaps and reduce their infrastructure spending.
Between 2023 and 2024, players like Starlink gradually increased their footprint across Africa, though it has not been easy sailing in some markets where regulations either require local ownership or the requirement to work with channel partners through whom authorities can gain visibility on operations for the sake of taxation and consumer protection issues.
It should be noted that, at the outset, satellite players were indulged on the premise that they could help address rural coverage.
However, as has been noted in many countries, urban areas have been the focus for the simple reason that affordability is an issue in most rural areas.
As such, most new subscribers are in urban areas, which has unseated that premise about closing the rural digital divide.
Between 2023 and 2024, Starlink gradually increased its footprint across Africa but also faced challenges. (Source: Starlink)
In 2025, it can be expected that regulators will move to respond to concerns by local players, by introducing new licenses as well as ensuring such players are compliant with pricing guidelines set out.
It can also be expected that discussions by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on spectrum, rural connectivity, etc. may have some bearing on how these players operate.
Data protection
In 2024, only 36 out of 54 African countries had enacted data protection laws.
At a continental level, despite the Malabo Convention (on cybersecurity and data protection) being adopted more than a decade ago, when it came into force on June 8, 2023, only 15 AU countries had ratified it, limiting its continental credibility. This itself hampers efforts at harmonizing data protection laws as well as limiting collaboration on cybersecurity.
Data protection concerns keep morphing and will remain on the horizon for quite a while.
Ongoing digital transformation, including by government entities, coupled with new business channels, mobile applications, and know-your-customer (KYC) principles by financial institutions are among other areas that will keep data protection in focus.
It can be expected that this convention will be reprised at the AU during 2025 as individual countries continue to address data protection.
Spectrum costs
It should be expected that spectrum costs will be among the areas up for discussions, in some cases based on lessons learned from 5G spectrum auctions for which many operators have yet to realize returns on investments.
Therefore, pricing at auctions may require a review based on market realities and the potential exploitation of spectrum for different applications.
The spectrum gravy train may not have dried up yet, but it has certainly slowed down.
Cybersecurity
Just like data protection, cybersecurity is a constant feature in the ICT landscape in Africa.
With more and more cyberattacks registered in 2024, a good part of discussions on policy and regulation will invariably feature cybersecurity in 2025 because the risks are not bound by borders and threat actors can be either in African countries or outside of them.
The need to enable collaboration across the continent and globally will underpin discussions on cybersecurity in 2025.
Misconceptions About Telecom Companies Involvement During Elections
1.Q: Do telecom companies support political parties?
A: No, telecom companies do not support political parties.
2.Q: How involved are telecom companies in monitoring and collating election results?
A: Telecom companies are not involved in monitoring and collating election results.
3.Q: Do telecom companies sell our data?
A: Telecom companies are law-abiding and do not sell customer data as the Data Protection Act, 2012, Sections 88 and 89, prohibits the purchase and sale of personal data.
4.Q: Why am I receiving messages from political parties?
A: The political parties could be using their own generated database.
5.Q: Do telecom companies listen to customers’ phone conversations?
A: No. Telecom companies do not and are incapable of listening to customers’ conversations. Such a practice is unethical and would infringe on customer privacy.
6 Q: Can telecom companies interfere with or manipulate election results?
A: No. Telecom companies cannot access the voting systems or election data to manipulate election outcomes. Telecom companies act as independent bodies and are not party-affiliated. You can be assured of our neutrality.
7. Q: Are telecom companies involved in the election processes?
A: No, telecom companies are limited to ensuring stable connectivity throughout the election process.
8. Q: Can telecom companies intercept voting information?
A: No. Voting data is typically encrypted and transmitted securely by the Electoral Commission, and telecom companies cannot access those systems or databases. Telecom companies strictly adhere to data privacy principles in their operations.
9. Q: Can telecom companies block or throttle election-related content?
A: As ethical and responsible corporate entities, telecom companies remain politically neutral throughout the election process. We do not post or support political content and will take down any election-related content that would compromise our position or reputation. This does not affect the constitutional rights of Directors or staff to post any election-related content.
10. Q: Can telecom companies collude with governments or parties to manipulate elections?
A: No. This is highly unlikely due to our commitment to high ethical standards, regulatory oversight, legal frameworks, and adverse reputational risks.
11. Q: Have telecom companies been implicated in election interference in Ghana?
A: No telecom company in Ghana has ever been implicated in election interference.
12. Q: How are telecom companies demonstrating election integrity?
A: Through collaboration with all stakeholders within the electoral ecosystem. Telecom companies are committed to a culture of openness in the conduct of their business. In line with their Code of Ethics, telecom companies, directors, and employees are prohibited from engaging in any activity compromising the various companies’ political neutrality or public perception.
The telecom companies’ position does not diminish their respect for the constitutional rights of directors or employees to personal participation in the election process and rights to absolute privacy.
Leadership and members of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, the EMIs Chamber of Ghana, and the Cyber Security Authority, have reiterated the need for the general public to be careful in how they receive, interact with and disseminate information both online and offline. The advice was given during separate educational engagements in Accra on Friday October 25, 2024.
The first stop of the engagement, which was part of the 2024 National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) under the theme “Combating Misinformation/Disinformation in a Digitally Resilient Democracy; Our Collective Responsibility”, was at the Labone Senior High School in Accra. During the hour-long engagement, experts from the telecommunications industry educated about 3,000 students and teachers, on the dangers of misinformation/disinformation and provided tools to help them identify and counter misinformation, while protecting themselves, their loved ones and their properties.
The various presenters (including Regine Bambara, Gillian Boateng, Samuel Bartels and Angela Adu-Ampofo) who took time to highlight the differences between misinformation and disinformation, also stressed on the need for the students to not just be careful of how they interact with and share information they encounter, but to also protect their personal information from unscrupulous sources.
In addition to the importance of verifying sources, the speakers also touched on fact-checking information, and critically evaluating the credibility of news sources before sharing or believing them. The students were also taught how to spot common tactics used by purveyors of fake news, such as sensational headlines, clickbait, and misleading images.
During and after the engagement, students actively asked questions, which were addressed by representatives from the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, the EMIs Chamber of Ghana and the CSA.
Later in the day, the team extended the campaign to the National Mosque of Ghana, where they engaged hundreds of worshippers on the same issue of misinformation and disinformation along with their varied negative impact, as well as steps to combat the menace.
The speaker Mr. Ibrahim Musah who was joined by the CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications and the EMIs Chamber Ing.Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, representatives of members and representatives of the CSA, emphasized the importance of critically evaluating information before sharing, especially as the country approaches an election year. Mr. Ibrahim further stressed on the need for the worshipers present and online, to play their part in limiting the spread of misinformation and disinformation, debunking same, and leaving a holy life to the benefit of all.
On his part Ing. Dr. Ashigbey thanked the leadership of the National Mosque of Ghana for the opportunity to educate and engage the worshippers. In his earlier interaction with the students at Labone SHS, Ing. Dr. Ashigbey stressed in the need for the students to prioritize their understanding and utilization of new technology.
NCSAM 2024
This year’s NCSAM themed “Combating Misinformation/Disinformation in a Digitally Resilient Democracy; Our Collective Responsibility” aims to spotlight the widespread issue of misinformation and disinformation, particularly their potential to undermine electoral integrity, peace, and security.
Organized under the auspices of the Ministry of Communication and Digitalisation, the month-long program is designed to foster collaboration and coordination among stakeholders, developing comprehensive strategies to curb the spread of false information online.
The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, in partnership with the Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana, has successfully trained a total of 200 students and 50 teachers in the Shai Osudoku District of Greater Accra in Coding, 3D Printing and the Internet of Things (IoT) as part of its “Coding Caravan” initiative funded by the Chamber. The students were selected from 21 schools in the district, while the teachers were selected from 50 separate schools in the district.
In an interview on the sidelines of the training workshop, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Ing. Dr. Kenneth Ashigbey, expressed hope of witnessing innovative solutions being birthed by the participants to tackle societal issues across the country in the short to medium term.
“We want to get to a stage where a child that we are training today can come up with a solution to deal with a challenge that surrounds them. We have been focused on doing this in the communities and environments where, as a Chamber and our partners, we can return because we want to spend the majority of our money not on our boarding and lodging but rather on teaching the kids.”
He also called on corporations to support the Coding Caravan team to scale up the initiative: “Any corporate body that wants, we can show you the proof of concept. We can show you how it is done and its impact. You don’t need to give the money to us. You can decide to sponsor a community of your choice; we’ll bring the volunteers and partners, and we’ll come to your community and deliver this course.”
The participating students were introduced to Scratch, a free programming language that allows users to create interactive stories, games, and animations. They also explored 3D design, printing, and the IoT,gaining hands-on experience in these crucial areas.
To ensure the long-term impact of the project, Dr. Ashigbey stressed the importance of also training teachers in the above-mentioned areas. This approach equips educators with the skills needed to continue the initiative’s goals independently as it expands to new schools. He noted the shift from theory-based to practical teaching methods, aiming to better prepare students for real-world challenges.
He urged citizens to support the initiative through various means, including providing transportation and internet access, as the project plans to extend from Accra to Paga.
Ms. Dorothy Klutse, Digital Skills Training Supervisor at the Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana (IIPGH), led sessions on “thinkatoys” and 3D printing within the IoT framework. She demonstrated practical applications of IoT, such as improving traffic light functionality through internet connectivity, among others.
According to Ms. Klutse, it is critical for the Ghanaian child to be introduced to world of IoT and 3D Printing among others. “The things we’ve thought today will significantly impact the children as the world continues to become a global village. I would like to highlight the importance of the children learning about the internet-of-things (IoT) as well as concepts like artificial intelligence. They would in the future use such platforms to develop innovative solutions to our problems.”
Addressing the students, Nana Yaa Amoah Bediako, Apagyahemaa of Asamankese, encouraged them to use ICT positively. She advised, “Instead of misusing ICT, use your access to computers and phones wisely. With data, you have a gateway to the global world, offering opportunities to learn new and beneficial things. Avoid wasting time on platforms like Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram. Instead, you can learn new words, skills, or hobbies. For example, I learned how to make fula and granular online.”
The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications remains committed to empowering the next generation through responsible and innovative use of ICT, fostering a brighter future for all.
The Coding Caravan Project has previously reached communities such as Tsiame, Nsawam, Akyem Oda, Agona Swedru, and Ofoase Ayirebi and trained about 1,500 pupils and 250 teachers across these areas.
gaining hands-on experience in these crucial areas.