Internet project for deprived areas launched
The Ghana Technology University College (GTUC) has launched an intergovernmental project that will allow for the effective utilisation of unused frequency channels to provide Internet services for deprived areas in the country.
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Dubbed, “TV White Space (TVWS) Project”, it is being spearheaded by the Ministry of Science , Environment , Technology and Innovation , the Ministry of Communications and the South Africa Department of Science and Technology.
When implemented, the project will allow people in the rural areas, especially schools, to be able to access the Internet and other e-services quickly.
Project benefits
Addressing the opening session of a three-day workshop to build the capacity of stakeholders on TVWS and Dynamic Spectrum Wireless Broadband Networks (DS-WBN) in Accra, the President of GTUC, Dr Osei K. Darkwa, said the project formed part of an initial phase of collaboration between the university and the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Meraka Institute.
He said the project would focus on building the TVWS test-bed network that would connect five high schools in the Accra metropolis with two GTUC campuses, and build the capacity of resource persons in knowledge sharing in the actual planning and implementation of the GTUC-TVWS test-bed.
Dr Darkwa said the TVWS test-bed would also allow the GTUC to use the test beds as infrastructure to expand its software technologies research.
“The motivation is to develop curriculum contents and e-book distribution platforms at various levels of education, especially at the primary and secondary levels in the rural areas so that they can gain equal access to education”, he said
Dr Darkwa, therefore, urged the participants to take the opportunity offered at the workshop to learn more about the project in order to be able to address the pending challenges of Internet connectivity in Accra.
Change dynamics
In his remarks, the Vice President of GTUC, Dr Robert Awuah Baffour, challenged the participants to find a way to advance the human mind and change the dynamics of the country, as well as the entire African continent.
“You are part of a group of people in Ghana that have the mandate to make sure that the status does not remain the same” ,he said.