Mid-Week Madness:Why did NPP Government Have to Sell Ghana Telecom?

The 70% acquisition by Vodafone of state-owned Ghana Telecom may be a done-and-dusted deal, subject only now to parliamentary approval in the august house. There are, however, serious issues arising that merit some consideration.

First of all, one would have to be from Mars not to know that this is an election year. After the announcement was made in 2006 to privatise, why is it only now that the putative sale has gone through, some five months before general elections? Secondly, despite the fact that there was a breather after France Telecom and Portugal Telecom were rejected some months back, at what point did Vodafone up and decide to make the bid, which, if we believe the opposition, was a non-starter, on account of the fact that there were other bidders ready to pay more than the $960million?

In December 2007, Kenya, where Vodafone operates as a mobile operator under Vodafone Kenya, was in the concluding stages of privatising state-owned Telkom Kenya, with the winning bidders France Telecom taking control by 21 December, 2007. The uncanny similarity of an opaque bidding process coupled with a privatisation so close to general elections makes for an explosive coincidence that is so serious it’s not funny. One might be tempted to think that this has nothing to do with Vodafone, till we read that an offshore-registered company by the name of Mobitelea was offered an opportunity to acquire 25% of Vodaphone Kenya Limited at the same price Vodafone had acquired them. This prompted civil society groups in Kenya to argue that “the privatisation of Telkom Kenya cannot…be deemed regular until the true picture of its ceding of [mobile provider] Safaricom shares to Vodafone Kenya is unravelled and rectified.”

Here, there is little proof that anything irregular has gone on despite the manner in which the sale went through so quickly, but reading the *Financial Times* account of the sale was sufficient to prompt speculation that given that the country is experiencing a budget deficit, the government might have seen a sale so close to the election as an opportunity to make amends around the economy.

Practices elsewhere
Still, whilst Kenya can talk about Vodafone Kenya bidding for a part of Safaricom, Ghana cannot even talk about a Ghanaian consortium ready to buy GT. This is one of the unique things about this privatisation. The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia tells us that Vodafone has three networks in the Middle East and Africa that are majority-owned: Egypt, Qatar and now Ghana. In the first case, state-owned Telecom Egypt owns 45% of Vodafone Egypt. In the Qatari case, Vodafone went in as a mobile operator, securing a 45% stake in Qatar Telecom, the Middle Eastern country’s second mobile licence provider. When we come to Ghana, a significant 70% was not only at stake, but also of our state-owned provider, prompting one to wonder why such a high figure, and why the land-line provider? Reports in the Ghanaian media indicate that Globacom had also made a bid, but had to settle for second best through a mobile service.

Questions Unanswered
Those are not the only questions. Reports in the media suggest that the minority’s concern was that Vodafone comes in as a strategic investor with little experience in landline provision. That it is setting up new services in New Zealand, where Vodafone also operates, that look like landlines and mobile lines combined should not be sufficient to assuage our fears of how it will manage our broadband services, national fibre optic system, and others. What of our national security? There is anecdotal evidence of our state security – BNI -- monitoring landlines; how far will the security services go in allowing a mobile provider with plenty of capital to share the monitoring of our landlines? Thirdly, all mobile providers have had to pass through GT for their operations. Now that Vodafone’s acquisition is semi-complete, will Vodafone’s supreme interest be in the regulation of the other providers, or a rough-and-ready competitor alongside them? Will the lines be indefinitely blurred on all these issues?

As The Week Draws to a Close in Accra: the UN is Coming to Town; Onetouch, not Always in Touch

It's been a while, and I can only say that blogging has taken a back-seat due to seious work pressures, which I can primarily attribute to the design (and conception) of a website for the Civil Society Forum for no less than the 12th session of the UN Conference on Trade And Development. Last time it was held was in Brazil, and after CAN2008, that's the next big thing. Ghanaians, sadly, are not finding it too sexy, so there's little coverage of it in the news. Ofcourse, it is not without good reason. Next week, a press conference will put paid to the ignorance.

Still, I cannot for the life of me understand why the Ghana government is not trumpeting it the best way it knows how (through corporate sponsorships, like MTN?? maybe?;-))). In any event, the Ghana government's site, with accommodation in Ghana and everything else about Ghana can be found here:http://www.unctadxii.com.

I wil most certainly be posting more UNCTAD-related information about UNCTAD over the next couple of weeks. UNCTAD is scheduled for 20-25 April, with the civil society one held alongside it on 17-19 April. The site can be accessed here: http://www.unctadxii-csoforum.org.


Onetouch--Not Always in Touch
The network that is "always in touch" in Ghana has not lived up to its name offlate. Sure, I'd die for ONETOUCH and all that, given that it's "proudly Ghanaian", but not any time soon! Both my significant other and myself have made what we can report to be interminable calls -- if you count three or four callsas "interminable" -- to the network's FREE hotline on 011. They are very responsive and quick, but their products on ONETOUCH have been decisively strange. Sending a CALL me back, which involves sending a FREE text message from the network to a recipient, does not work by sending a text message to the recipient. Strange thing, though, is that it works on some phones.

Consequently, I have had to use my other phone that has a ONETOUCH number to send a "CALL ME BACK" txt message to my girlfriend, which is not always the best!

I needs must bother them this weekend, I guess!

Enjoy yours!

Technology--Moving from the Old to the New, Ghana-Style

It is an article of e-faith that as soon as anything hip, trendy and new becomes de rigeur, the old is phased out slowly and surely. No surprises, then, that you will find many outlets dedicated to printing digital cameras, but very few are ready to print film from the old cameras.

This was one particular trial that I was happy to endure today. Happy, because it served to underscore, in so many ways, that technology in a developing country like Ghana is a potentially spurious concept.

Spurious, because Ghanaians, say, are quite happy to see that a lot has changed in the mobile telephony world on account of being able to access GPRS services and live (voicemail) SMS, but if these technologies are leaving behind old technologies, such as the basic ability to make a clear call on your phone, then one begins to question whether something is not rather a-miss!

In this specific context of looking for an outlet to print my "normal" and conventional films, whilst I was amused, I was also irritated, because all the places I knew were either no longer printing such films, or had moved on to other places.

Life is evidently about living and learning, but it takes some experiences like these to make you stop and think whether the technology should not start to complement existing ones, rather than making them obsolete?

As the Week Draws to a Close in Accra: Bank of Ghana Gets Proactive on Re-denomination; Why ONETOUCH Still Rules

Last week Friday, Ghanaians woke up to the news that the Bank of Ghana had launched a new website on the re-denomination of the currency, scheduled for July 2007.

Getting to work, I checked Joy FM's website on the article, a story culled from the Ghana News Agency about the initiative. It was great to see the Bank of Ghana, in a manner reminiscent of the flyer it sent out in January with copies of the Daily Graphic.

By clicking http://www.ghanacedi.gov.gh, you are exposed to a fresh, rather hip webpage that is replete with funky graphics and bold colours that are pleasing to the eye. There is a download page, where you can download videos of the now-very-popular jingles all over radio and tv. The refrain is no longer recondite:

"There is no change in value, the value is the same"

The video can be downloaded on the page listed above, along with a few other less popular jingles.

Why ONETOUCH Rules

You may or may not re-call that I have blogged about Onetouch and areeba quite a few times. The Last time I blogged, it was about the war between the two operators.

Even though South African giant MTN has almost bought AREEBA, I would like to state explicitly here that though I also possess an areeba number, I am passionately a ONETOUCH promoter and supporter. Here's why:

1. Onetouch is 70% Ghanaian
2. It has FREE directory assistance (you can find out any number in the country for free!)
3. flat rate of GHC1,450, or almost $0.16/minute to ANY network, with GHC900 to landline and onetouch users during off-peak hours
4. GPRS is VERY user-friendly, enabling users to browse mobile web, with as little as GHC2000, whereas AREEBA demands you have GHC50,000 before you can browse
5. you can call a Ghana Telecom helpline for FREE, which you cannot do on any other network

Onetouch musn't get complacent, and with people like me around, I will ensure it doesn't;-) SUffice-to-say, so far, I'm very happy with them!

Good weekend!