The National Communications Authority (NCA), has organised a two-day international symposium on telecommunication regulations which commenced today [Monday] 18th July 2016.
The symposium, which is the first of its kind and is being organised as part of the NCA’s 20th Anniversary celebration, brings together several other regulators from across the globe including Peru, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Australia, United Kingdom, among others.
[contextly_sidebar id=”zXZ0uxHYnSz2sYMPJVYwWeZPBbjseHuO”]The theme of the symposium is “The role of regulations in ICT development,” and it presents an opportunity for partnerships to be created and ideas shared on how to improve the work of regulators in the communications sector.
The topics up for discussion at the symposium include ‘the future of telecommunication and expected impact on the industry in Africa’, ‘infrastructure sharing: challenges and opportunities’, ‘improving rural communications: policies’, ‘strategies and regulatory interventions’, ‘prospects of data uptake and Over The Top (OTT) services’ and ‘whether digitalisation has redefined the boundaries of market definition’, among others.
The International Symposium is currently live on the following platforms:
The speaker at the opening ceremony of the symposium, include the Board Chairman of the NCA, Eugene Baffoe-Bonnie, stated that, there was a need for regulators to discuss the likely redefinition of market data measurement and accumulation through digitization, given the number of challenges faced by the telecom sector.
“Unquestionably, the future of telecommunication holds both exciting and daunting challenges for this ever evolving and over changing sector. However, these challenges can be creatively managed through collaboration with sister regulatory bodies across the continent and worldwide, particularly, by sharing best practices populated with similar templates of emerging regulatory trends and associated solutions,” he said.
He said presentations and discussions at the symposium will give participants the opportunity of learn about best practices and discuss possible road maps for the way forward.
“We will have the opportunity to examine what other regulatory inventions and strategies that we can share to improve our rural communications. For a developing country such as Ghana, the ICT road is very important as it fills in the gaps for our rural communities where we lack relevant infrastructure such as the needed number of medical staff, teachers, banking facilities and other businesses. Through relevant policies and strategies’, the NCA can be empowered to regulate communication between medical personnel in the rural areas and the urban areas,” he explained.
In Ghana presently, significant adoption of technologies among the estimated 27 million population has opened new challenges that need the regulators’ attention in order to safeguard the interest of stakeholders and enhance the telecom sector as a growth enabler.
Over the past two decades, the NCA has received plaudits for the successful implementation several policies that have shaped the face of telecommunication including the mobile number portability system, infrastructure sharing and the Billing Feedback System, which recently won the Authority the ‘Best ICT Policy and Regulatory Initiative’ award from the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation.
Mr. Baffoe-Bonnie said the NCA in a bid to improve rural communication will share from experiences from other countries n infrastructure sharing in particular.
The Director-General of the NCA, Willaim Tevie talked of the importance of ICT in inducing growth and prosperity in an economy saying: “Today, no one can deny the fact that ICT has incredible potential to improve development outcomes in both developing and developed worlds. All three pillars of sustainable development i.e economic development, social inclusion and environmental protection need ICT as a propeller to make development in those various sectors achievable.”
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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana