The Minister of Communications, Samuel Nartey George, has announced plans to set up a special committee to tackle the high cost of mobile data in Ghana.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, he said the inter-ministerial committee will be formed within 14 days to study the issue and find solutions.
“Yesterday, I met the director and management of the ministry, and I’ve given them the running order. Hopefully, within the next 14 days, we’ll be setting up an inter-ministerial committee to look at the cost of data,” he said.
Sam George promised that before the end of the year, Ghanaians will notice reductions in data costs.
“At my vetting, I said that it is my fervent belief that before the end of this year, we should see some movements in the data offerings,” he added.
He assured that his ministry will work closely with key stakeholders, such as telecom operators and industry regulators.
“Even before I sat at my vetting to announce this as policy, I had engaged all the telecom CEOs. I’m going to be a minister who will engage industry. I won’t announce a policy without engaging industry and getting their buy-in,” he explained.
Sam George described his leadership as a “reset” for Ghana’s digital economy. He emphasized that his decisions will be made in collaboration with industry players.
“I told them, it’s a new dawn. It’s a reset. And so I engaged personally, every single chief executive and the chamber as well to get their understanding of what I want to do and secure their buy-in before announcing it,” he added.
With these steps, Ghanaians are hopeful that affordable data will soon become a reality.
