Minister of Communications, Samuel Nartey George has disclosed that an inter-ministerial committee will be set up in the next 14 days to deal decisively with high cost of data in the country.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Sam George revealed that management of the Communications Ministry had already been directed to start the process.
“Yesterday, I met the director and management of the ministry, and I’ve given them the running order. Hopefully, within the next 14 days, we’ll be setting up an inter-ministerial committee to look at the cost of data,” he stated.
The Minister reiterated his commitment to ensure that Ghanaians experience changes in terms of data cost and services by the end of the year.
“At my vetting, I said that it is my fervent belief that before the end of this year, we should see some movements in the data offerings.
“I’ve said that there are two models here. You can either have a reduction in prices of data or an increase in value offerings,” he added.
According to him, the committee would have representation from the Ministries of Communication, Digital Technology & Innovation, Energy, Finance, NCA, PURC, Ghana Chamber of Telecommunication, NUGS, Association of Content Creators amongst others.
Sam George further emphasized that the Ministry’s policy decisions will be informed by consultation with important stakeholders, especially telecom operators and industry regulators.
“Even before I sat at my vetting to announce this as policy, I had engaged all the telecom CEOs. I’m going to be a minister who will engage industry. I won’t announce a policy without engaging industry and getting their buy-in,” he assured.
