Mobile operators paid a tax of 1.94 billion GH ¢ in 2018 | Economy

Mr. Ken Ashigbey, President and CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, said that network operators pay 1.98 billion GHAR in total in 2018, as well as direct investments of more than 276 million GHG in electricity. # 39; State.

He explained that the mobile sector accounted for nearly nine percent of Ghana's total revenue and employed more than 1.7 million people directly and indirectly.

Mobile telephony, he said, was a vital channel for online administration strategy and financial inclusion, as public institutions now use mobile money platforms, SMS and USSD to provide services to the public.

Mr Ashigbey spoke at the launch of Jumia Ghana Limited's Mobile Report in Accra to inform the public about the state of smartphone accessibility in Africa, particularly in Ghana, and to its contribution to socio-economic development.

He said that since the beginning of the use of mobile phone in the country, 25 years ago, the industry had connected nearly 70% of the population, which accounted for more than 20 million of 39 individuals and had connected about half of the population to the Internet via their mobile phones. .

"With the government's willingness to digitize and train smart citizens, the use of mobile technology is the key to the vision and requires the collaboration of all stakeholders, including: development organizations, private sector actors, Jumia and the mobile industry itself, "he said.

Collaboration, he said, would create opportunities to extend mobile services to unconnected populations, empower women and reduce all forms of inequality among citizens.

"I will use this platform to remind that mobile is a powerful tool to improve people's lives by enabling them to access personalized value-added services."

Speaking about the widespread sale of prerecorded SIM cards to mobile phone users, Ashigbey urged telecom companies to build a robust database to revalidate registered sim cards to track mobile phone users. agents who had registered them with their identification card and sold to customers.

Ore Odusanya, Managing Director of Jumia Ghana Limited, who delivered the report, said Jumia sold 1.5 million smartphones in Africa in 2015, up from 900,000 in 2017.

According to the report, he said that brands such as Huawei and Samsung were turning to the underserved segment of the market and introducing affordable smartphones, while other brands continued to introduce very smart smartphones to high prices, contributing to 60% of smartphones sold in Africa. .

These brands, he said, were Infinix, Tecno and Hotwave, adding that they were among the top five mobile phone brands on Jumia in 2018.

Mr. Odusanya noted that the adoption of smartphones entailed the purchase and use of data, which implied a direct impact on the growth of the sector. He revealed that the mobile broadband coverage in Ghana in 2018 was 80.33% and that Jumia would launch its "Mobile Week" from April 8th to 14th, 2019 to allow members of the public to buy smart phones at home. reduced prices.

Brands that would participate in Mobile Week include: Samsung, Tecno, Infinix, Huawei and Apple.