Introduction - Ghana

The Republic of Ghana is situated in West Africa, sharing boundaries with Cote d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east and the Gulf of Guinea to the south (The World Factbook ). It is a unitary state, with a surface area of 238,533 square km, subdivided into ten administrative regions. The population as at July 2013 was estimated at 25.199 million inhabitants, with a literacy rate of 71.5% (2010). 57% of the total population is between 15 and 64 years of age. Accra, the capital city, has a population of about 2.26 million (2009). English is the official language and is universally used in addition to other local languages.

Economically, Ghana is West Africa's second largest economy after Nigeria. Until 2006, Ghana's economy was dominated by agriculture, accounting for roughly one-quarter of GDP in 2010, while the services sector comprises almost 50% of country's GDP. Ghana is an oil producing company since 2010. Ghana's economy has been strengthened by a competitive business environment and sustained reductions in poverty levels. The country is also well endowed with natural resources including gold, bauxite diamonds, petroleum, silver, manganese, fish, hydropower, salt and limestone, as well timber and rubber.

In relation to Communications, mobile telephony is one of the fastest growing industries in Ghana (KPMG ). According to figures published by the National Communications Authority in November 2013, there were 273,136 fixed phone lines (1% penetration) compared to 27.665 million mobile phone subscriptions (106% penetration). There were 9.76 million data mobile subscriptions as at November 2013 (37.4% penetration).

In terms of ICT Infrastructure, the infrastructure is quite concentrated in Accra. International Connectivity is provided via SAT- 3 Submarine Optical Fibre Cable. There is a National Fibre Optic Backbone that is being extended from 1000km to 4000km to connect 23 sites nationwide. VSAT Internet connectivity is widely used (130 installed nationwide) and the introduction of 3 Generation services has led to an increase in the range of services provided by cellular operations. Currently, there are 6 cellular telecom operators (MTN (Scancom), Tigo (Millicom), Airtel (Bharti Airtel), Vodafone, Expresso and Globacom) and 143 FM broadcasting stations in Ghana. In 2000, the Research and Educational Network (REN) was established with funding from the World Bank to link research institutions and academia. Community Information Centres (CICs) are used for provision of information to the under served and remote communities. The private sector plays a significant role in ICT service delivery.

Ghana is set to be a major player in the African ICT sector in the next five years, according to survey conducted by the Africa Business Panel where it was ranked at number four on the continent after South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya (2012)(KPMG ).

There are nine public universities and over 30 private institutions for Higher Educations.

ICT Background

In response to global policy changes in the ICT industry, Ghana has been among the first African countries to reform its ICT sector. Since 1990, the Government of Ghana liberalised the telecommunications sector with the aim of enabling the private sector to actively provide services.

Policies driving ICT developments in Ghana include the ICT for Accelerated Development Policy (ICT4AD), National Telecommunication Policy (NTP), National Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy and Development Plan.

The ICT for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) Policy (2003) aimed at addressing development challenges as a basis for achieving a number of policy goals and objectives as well as assisting in the achievement of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). ICT4AD is supporting an ICT-led socio-economic development process aimed at transforming Ghana into a middle income, information-rich, and knowledge-based as well as technology-driven economy and society with the following objectives (The Ghana ICT4AD Policy document):

- To create the necessary environment to facilitate the deployment, utilisation and exploitation of ICT within the economy and society;

- Support the development of a viable knowledge-based ICT industry;

- Facilitate the modernisation of the agricultural sector;

- Support the development of a competitive high value-added services sector;

- Aid the process of development of national human resource capacity and the nation's R&D capabilities;

- Promote an improved educational system within which ICTs are widely deployed;

- Facilitate a wide-spread deployment and exploitation of ICTs within the society to support the delivery of health and social services;

- Support modernization of the Civil and Public Service;

- Facilitate the development, expansion, rehabilitation and the continuous modernization of the national information and communications infrastructure;

- Guide the development and implementation of electronic government and governance, as well as electronic commerce and business strategies and action plans;

- Accelerate the development of women and eliminate gender inequalities in education, employment and decision making;

- Facilitate the development and implementation of the necessary legal, institutional and regulatory framework and structures required for supporting the deployment, utilization and development of ICTs and

- Facilitate the development and promotion of the necessary standards, good practices and guidelines to support the deployment and exploitation of ICTs within the society and economy.

The strategic focus of the policy was to simultaneously target the development of the ICT sector and industry as well as use of ICTs as a broad-based enabler of development goals, with emphasis on the development, deployment and exploitation of ICTs to aid the development of all other key sectors of the economy.

The implementation of this strategy was underpinned by the following 14 ICT4AD pillars:

- Accelerated human resource development

- Promoting ICTs in education- the deployment and exploitation of ICTs in education

- Facilitating Government administration and service delivery - promoting electronic government and governance

- Facilitating the development of the private sector

- Developing an export-orientated ICT products and services industry

- Modernization of agriculture and the development of an agro-business industry

- Developing a globally competitive value-added services sector- a regional Business service and ICT hub

- Deployment and spread of ICTs in the community

- Promotion of national health

- Rapid ICT and enabling physical infrastructure development

- Research and development, scientific and industrial research capacity development

- Legal, regulatory, and institutional framework provisions

- Promoting local and foreign direct investment drive in ICTs

- Facilitating national security and law and order

The principal objective of ICT4AD was to support the modernization of the civil and public services through institutional reform, renewal, deployment and exploitation of ICT to facilitate improvements in operational effectiveness, efficiency and service delivery. Another objective was the guidance of development and implementation of electronic governance for which National Information Technology Agency (NITA) was established by Act 771 in 2008 to actualise the application of technology to governance. A large number of Government Ministries have invested resources in the production of their own specific ICT policy and in addition, Ghana has developed a robust legal regime to support ICT development and support ICT policies.

The National Telecommunication Policy (NTP) (2005) was enacted in 2005 to support the realisation of the national ICT4AD policy. NTP's primary objective is to establish market structures that will be most beneficial to Ghana's citizens and businesses, and to set in motion the procedures and incentives that will boost the market's development (Ministry of Communication, 2004).

Key objectives include to provide citizens and residents in Ghana with high quality and affordable access to Information and Communication Services and to help transform Ghana into a knowledge-based society and technology-driven economy.

The National Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy and Development Plan is awaiting approval by the Parliament.

The Government of Ghana believes that it is necessary to integrate ICT into the overall development objectives, priorities and national programmes. The country's medium-term development plan captured in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the Education Strategic Plan 2010-2020 suggest the use of ICT as a means of reaching out to the poor in Ghana and a way of moving forward (Gatege&Moraa, April 2013 i Hub Research).

In terms of legislation, the following laws have been passed to support the implementation of ICT policies and improve the regulation of the sector in Ghana:

- National Communication Authority Act, 2008, Act 769

- National Information Technology Agency Act, 2008, Act 771

- Electronic Transactions Act, 2008, Act 772

- Electronic Communications Act, 2008, Act 775

This provides a comprehensive legal framework for the ICT sector in the country and provides the legal basis for some of the strategies within the ICT4AD and NTP policies. National Communication Authority (NCA) Act, 2008, Act 769 reinstates the NCA as the central body to licence and regulate communication activities and services in Ghana (Fremponh, G. Ghana ICT Sector Performance Review: Towards Evidence-based ICT Policy and Regulation, Vol.2, pp8, 2010). In addition, it aims to resolve the disagreement between the National Media Commission (NMC) and NCA over the right to license and allocate frequency for electronic media in Ghana. The new law had provisions for ensuring good regulatory and best practice in terms of accountability, transparency, proportionality and consistency while also introducing the appointment of the Director-General on a basis of a five-year renewable contract.

The National Information Technology Agency Act, 2008, Act 771 established the National Information Technology Agency (NITA), which is one of the agencies enunciated in ICT4AD. The objective of NITA is to regulate the provision of ICT services to ensure quality of the services and promote standards of efficiency. Its key functions include to:

- Establish and monitor the implementation of the national information communications technology policy;

- Serve as the certifying agency as provided under the Electronic Transactions Act;

- Play the dual role of enforcing the provisions and regulations of this Act and those of the Electronic Transactions Act; and

- Resolve matters involving domain names in accordance with the Electronic Transactions Act.

The Electronic Transactions Act, 2008, Act 775 is aimed to provide legislation to support electronic communications and related transactions in the country. Its main objectives include to:

- Remove and prevent barriers to electronic communications and related transactions;

- Promote legal certainty and confidence in electronic communications and transactions

- Promote e-government service and electronic communications and transactions with public and private bodies, institutions and citizens; and

- Develop a safe, secure and effective environment for consumers' business and government to conduct and use electronic transactions.

It provided for the establishment of a Certifying Agency to issue licenses for encryption and authentication services provided under the Act. In addition, the Act specifies what constitutes a cyber crime and made provisions for cyber inspectors with some 32 offences that are classified as cyber crime under the Act. Overall, the Act provides a comprehensive framework to support, facilitate and protect electronic transactions within public, private and general transactions including commerce.

The Electronic Communications Act 775 of 2008 compliments Act 769 and defines the functions of the NCA. Under the Act, the NCA is mandated to regulate the radio spectrum allocated for use by broadcasting organisations and providers of broadcasting services in accordance with the standards and requirements of the International Telecommunications Union and its Radio Regulations as adopted by Ghana. The Act also deals with frequency authorization, obligation of licenses, classes of licenses, etc.

Key institutions that facilitate the development and growth of ICT in Ghana include:

- Ministry of Communication;

- Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation;

- Ministry of Education;

- National Communication Authority; and

- National ICT Policy and Plan Implementation Committee.

Ministry of Communications (MoC) was created to manage the convergence of communications and technologies to promote a viable integrated national development process within a global setting.

Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) is focused on establishing a strong national scientific and technological base for accelerated sustainable development.

National Communications Authority (NCA) is primarily responsible for regulating the telecommunications sector and implementing the terms of this Policy. Some of its roles include issuing of licenses, regulation of competition including interconnection, implementing the Universal Access policy and technical standards, quality and service oversight.