The National Communications Authority (NCA) is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. This milestone is worth celebrating because of the successes it has chalked up in its two decades of existence.
Graphic Business can recall the implementation of the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) which allows customers on a particular network to freely port to another network without effectively losing their numbers.
The NCA was also successful with the implementation of the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card registration. Although this has not been fully implemented because all the telcos allow the sale of the SIM cards without taking the right particulars from the customers, this feat is also worth mentioning.
In spite of the population size of Ghana, the mobile telephony market is so attractive that the country is among the few in the world that can boast of six operators, all of them foreign multinationals, serving only about 26 million people.
At the end of December 2015, the total number of mobile voice subscribers had reached 35,008,387, bringing total mobile network penetration to 127.63 per cent.
Mobile data is also around 50 per cent when it comes to penetration.
There are many licensed radio and television stations in the country; another achievement that has helped strengthen the country’s democracy because people are now well informed and able to contribute to national discourse.
In mentioning these, the efforts to get the country to fully migrate to digital terrestrial television cannot be overemphasised in spite of the delays with its implementation. Thankfully, it has been announced that the migration will take off in a couple of months.
The Electronic Communications Act, which serves as a guide for the regulation of the industry, has also undergone some reviews - all in an attempt to make the terrain more friendly and conducive.
In spite of these achievements and more, the road to this feat has not been rosy.
There are many instances when the players in the industry have had cause to complain about the lack of proper engagement with them before new policies governing the sector are passed.
Ruling governments have also taken advantage of their stay in power to bend the hands of the NCA and review laws governing the industry only to satisfy their selfish interests.
GRAPHIC BUSINESS believes that after 20 years, and considering the maturity of Ghanaians as far as democracy is concerned, the time has come for the NCA to be more independent and not allow itself to be used by some politicians to do what is not in the best interest of the industry.
We expect the NCA to get tougher on the telecom companies which consistently short-change their customers by not giving them value for money when it comes to service delivery. The NCA must desist from imposing fines on the telcos and saving the money while customers who suffered bad service are left to their fate.
The GRAPHIC BUSINESS also expects the NCA to devise more pragmatic ways to ensure that the telcos make their data services more affordable for the people. This is crucial because data usage is now trendy and should be affordable to more people.
Congratulations again to NCA. We hope to see you as a better regulator in the next 20 years.