The rollout which is scheduled within the next six months would be undertaken by Next-Gen Infraco (NGiC), a consortium specially put together to develop the necessary infrastructure for the rollout.
The consortium comprises
Taking her turn at the bi-weekly Minister's Briefing organised by the
She said the landmark partnership agreement was signed on
The Minister explained that the decision to employ this route was borne out of lessons learnt from the roll out of the 4G broad band services.
She said with the 4G services, government auctioned the spectrum to the highest bidder, however, nine years after its roll out, the country still had 15 per cent penetration.
Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said as part of the agreement, the shared 4G and 5G infrastructure would be built by Nokia and Radisys, with IT architecture and integration provided by Microsoft and
"This collaboration ensures that we leverage cutting edge world-class expertise and technology to build a robust digital infrastructure. NGIC's neutral hosting model and Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offering will accelerate national enablement programmes, reduce the digital divide, optimise capital expenditure, and ensure efficient operating costs while respecting Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) fundamentals by reducing environmental impact and carbon footprint. This innovative approach will make high-speed, secure, and seamless mobile services accessible to all Ghanaians," she disclosed.
She said in addition to this, the NGIC network would provide a strong foundation for the government to offer new services to the people of
"It is our expectation that the implementation of this will see NGIC democratise mobile," she said.
The roll-out of the cutting-edge technology she said would not come at any cost to the government, however, the government would hold not less than 10 per cent shares in the Consortium.
"This shared network infrastructure for 5G represents a strategic move to provide affordable, high-speed mobile broadband services, reduce the digital divide, and promote financial inclusion. This initiative is a significant step towards achieving a fully digitised
Copyright 2024 Ghanaian Times. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source