[ 2016-11-20 ]

Economic challenges threat to telecoms industry - Kwaku Sakyi-Addo
The current macro-economic challenges in the
country are posing serious threats to the
sustainability of the telecom industry in Ghana,
the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana
Chamber of Telecommunication, Mr Kwaku Sakyi-Addo
has said.

He said the industry had been hit with many
challenges, key among them being the high energy
tariffs which contributed around 60 per cent of
the industry’s operating cost.

Mr Sakyi-Addo said this at the “Thought
leadership breakfast forum” which was organised
to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the
Telecoms Chamber.

Another challenge, he said, was the depreciation
of the cedi, stating that “our revenues are in
cedi but our investments involve foreign exchange
so there is no doubt the depreciation of the cedi
over the past years has affected the industry.

He said operators had also invested in 3G
technology throughout district capitals, but in
many of those places, “the monthly revenue is a
tiny fraction of the running cost, not even to
talk about the capital investments”.

Mr Sakyi-Addo also pointed out that throughout the
last five years, inflation in communication
services had been the lowest in the non-food
category, adding that while the cost of inputs in
the industry rose sharply, the structure of the
market and the nature of competition held the
industry back from sharing those costs.

“That is great for our customers in the
short-term but such a situation raises serious
risks for business sustainability in the long-term
and for the industry as a whole ultimately. It
doesn’t matter whether you are wholly or partly
owned by foreigners or locally owned,” he
explained.

Opportunities

Mr Sakyi-Addo said he was however optimistic that
despite these hurdles and obstacles, there were
still many prospects for the industry.

He said opportunities existed for growth,
especially in the mobile financial services and
electronic payment sectors.

“There are opportunities for government to make
strategic policy decisions that will enable mobile
money to be utilised across sectors for citizens
to make payments to government and vice versa,”
he stated.

He said the possibilities for the future of
telecommunications were immense but was however
not automatic that those possibilities would be
realised for the maximum benefit of all.

He, therefore, called for policy and regulatory
clarity, transparency and predictability, stating
that they were fundamental to teasing out the
creative juices of innovators and the appetite of
investors.

Innovate or perish

A Legal Practitioner, Mr Ace Annan Ankomah,
contributing to a panel discussion on the theme:
“the telecom industry in Ghana: five years ago,
five years from now,” urged professionals to be
innovative by applying technology to their
professions or perish.

He said technology could change in a second and
“if you are not up to the scratch you will be
left behind”.

Using his profession as an example, he said
technology had made the practice of law simpler
and easier.

He said technology had made it possible for him to
transact business with many clients without even
having to meet them physically.

“Technology comes with its own challenges but
imbedded in the challenges are a number of
opportunities. You can choose to be Samsung or
Kodac,” he stated.

Source - GNA

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