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| Ghana makes new guidelines for erection of telecoms masts | |
| Ghana | Created: 6 May 2010 |
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Even though the full details of the guidelines are not yet available, the guidelines include regulations for collocation and prohibition from erecting masts closer to schools. The Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrissu has told a Joy News bulletin monitored by ghanabusinessnews.com that a major requirement of the new guidelines is the improvement in quality of services. He also said, the guidelines prohibit telecoms companies from erecting masts near schools. He said even though, there are no scientific proof to the possible health hazards posed by the emission of electromagnetic radiation from the masts, the decision is a precaution to protect Ghanaian children from any possible health dangers in the future. In February this year, the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) placed a ban on the mounting of telecommunications masts in the country until further notice. The issue was later resolved between the ministry and the telephony providers. The telecoms companies, especially the mobile telephony companies have come under criticisms for mounting masts near to residential facilities and exposing residents to possible health dangers, they have also been accused of offering poor quality services and exploiting subscribers through raffles and customer reward promotions that take from rather than give subscribers any rewards at all. Ghana currently has six mobile phone companies licensed to operate in the country, five are in operation – these are MTN, Tigo, Vodafone, Kasapa and Zain. The sixth, Globacom is yet to start operations. And the country’s mobile telephony penetration is said to be over 60% of the country’s population of about 22 million. |
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| Source: Ghana Business News, Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, 06 May 2010 | |
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