The State of Ghana's Payphones

Well, yesterday was Republic Day and, as such, it was a holiday. It was odd coming to work on a Monday only to rest on Tuesday and get back today--but, hell, better than none at all!;-)

Back to the State of the payphones...well, they still exist in the country--like this one by the state-owned Ghana Telecom. It's a delicious irony I should be using this picture, for just today, heard that the British-based Vodafone has just bought 66.67% of Ghana Telecom(GT) for some $960million.

Results are what matters, so let's see what they will bring, though I cannot understand why Ghanaian polcy-makers have to consistently divest state-owned enterprises to attract investment. We've had horror stories from the Malaysians and Norwegians who did a bad job and left us. We're now going to the British...

Time will tell...

Huge Billboards: Onetouch Mobile Network, Eat Your Heart Out!

Huge Billboards are no stranger to this blog. Many Ghanaians who have returned after many years--and foreigners alike--like to tell of an idyllic Accra, where many buildings have sprung about. Too true, that; it must be said though that quite a number of the so-called "beauty" has to do with the psychedelic boards that have sprung up.


This one, by ONETOUCH, Ghana's indigenous mobile provider that has just launched Mobile TV (BlackStar TV) on the network is advertising on the Tetteh-Quarshie interchange a newly-launched service, called FONBUK, that enables customers store up to 250 numbers from one's phone onto a secure server--for free-- in the event that one's phone is lost or stolen, and the contacts all gone.

Can You Tell Where I am? Google Maps Doesn't Know:-(

I suspect strongly that some day Google Maps might be able to find out that I am sitting by a computer in East Legon.

In a different take from usual posts, I thought I'd give you this entry as an insight into how our GPRS-enabled mobile service providers (this case Onetouch is able to allow us check email (see on the right)--and now, thanks to Google, even help us locate where we are in town!

I did a search and the satellite was able to, after some five minutes, locate Brussels and even the motorway there. Regrettably Google Maps couldn't find the Tema motorway--though it was able to find Tema (as you can see above).

Ghana's Biggest Mobile Service Provider MTN Makes Dastardly Big Claims...

Check the two billboards out. Which is the biggest? South Africa-based MTN is certainly the biggest, exhorting one to "Go Make that Call".

The capital of Accra has been replete with an unprecedented psychedelic quality of yellow in the sense that there is a lot of yellow around--and it is certainly not the Ghanaian sun!

It's about MTN and its campaign of y'ello--ness, which is doing very little for its self-esteem off-late. This is because Ghana's regulator, the National Communications Authority, in an unprecedented move called on MTN and ONETOUCH, which has 70% stake owned by Ghana (which purchase is being bidded by Singapore Telecom) to shape up or be caused to audit their accounts, and face severe sanctions. You can read the story here: http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=20073&email=html.

Whilst you are at it, you might want to check out MTN's yellow plane ensconced in the grassy knoll, of sorts, of Tetteh Quarshie interchange!



STOP PRESS: just heard that the regulator has apparently settled with both companies! It will be up to the media to inform us of the extent of these discussions!!

Travelling Safely on the Ghanaian Roads, Onetouch Reminds Us to Drive with Care

My absence from here was due in part to a funeral I had to attend in my maternal grandmother's home town. Now, this town is some 1.5 hours away from the capital by road, and forms part of what has now become known as the Trans West African Highway Network, supposed to connect some of the West African countries together

[- Damane (Liberia border) 26 km in Côte d’Ivoire ;

- Bloloquin-Toulepleu-(Liberia border) 64 km - Côte d’Ivoire

- Ganta-Tappita-Douanes Tobli-Blay (Côte d’Ivoire border): 15 km in Liberia ;

- Bandajuma-Zimmi-Mru Bridge (Liberia border) : 97 km, in Sierra Leone ;

- Freetown-Pamelap (Guinea border : 126 km, in Sierra Leone;

- Boke (Guinea) - Quebo (Guinea Bissau) : 206 km

- Akatsi/Dzodze (Togo border): 31 km in Ghana ;

- Noepe-Hilla Condji (Benin border) : 80 km, in Togo. ]

In effect, the so-called Trans-West African Highway Network has been comprehensively completed since last week, prompting joys that the ECOWAS link-up is becoming more of a reality.

Sadly, it's coming at a cost, as exemplified by last Thursday's eerie accident that involved two articulators travelling at top speed in opposite directions; the helping of Ghanaian motorists of passengers of an overturned bus (comprising West Africans from Cote d' Ivoire, Liberia, Benin, Nigeria and Togo) resulting in their deaths as the second articulator hit them at top speed (after having lost control). Altogether, seven vehicles were involved in the very sad loss of lives that claimed 40 people.

The road on which this happened goes to one of Ghana's premier tourist regions--the Central Region, where there is much more greenery than in the capital of Accra.

The roads are so good and so speed-inducing it's not funny. Regrettably, badly-educated and opportunistic (not to mention tired) articulator truck drivers take advantage of these good roads and act as death merchants.

To remind Ghanaian motorists of the importance of preserving lives, my favourite network, Ghana's mobile network--Onetouch--has erected billboards throughout the highway that spans several kilometres, reminding drivers not just they can connect to ONETOUCH in the area they have passed, but that "life is precious, drive with care".

A publicity stunt, notwithstanding, it's important to read that as you cruise from one region to the next.

(May those West Africans who lost their lives, as well as those Ghanaians who stopped to help them, ending up killed, rest in perfect peace)