GIFEC To Construct 50 ICT Centres Nationwide


The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) has begun the construction of 50 Community Information Centres (CICs) throughout the country.

The CICs will serve as community ICT centres to help bridge the digital divide between rural and urban Ghana.

Twenty of the 50 CICs are expected to be completed for inauguration by December.

The GIFEC is funded with one per cent after-tax profit of all telecommunication companies in the country.

Speaking at the launch of the GIFEC Week celebration in Accra yesterday, the Minister for Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, urged the board and the management of GIFEC to ensure that the centres were connected to the Internet, so that they could be of use to young people for research and development.

Programmes highlighting the three-day event, meant to highlight the activities of the organisation, include forums on ICT and education in Ghana, exhibitions and lectures.

The GIFEC was established in 2004 as an implementing agency of the Ministry of Communications to facilitate the spread of ICT use in rural Ghana; train rural schoolchildren and teachers in the use of ICT; and empower rural communities by providing access to information and decision-making processes at the local and national levels.

Mr Iddrisu said as part of measures to strengthen the country’s emergency response unit, GIFEC would, in January next year, roll out an emergency service delivery on the 911 short code to deal with medical, crime and natural disasters.

He called on the National Communications Authority (NCA) to dedicate mobile broadband spectrums for the provision of voice and data for rural communities once the country began the migration process from analogue to digital radio and television.

The Administrator/CEO of GIFEC, Mr Kofi Attor, said the organisation had over the last three years performed creditably in reaching some communities where the telecommunication companies had not been able to deploy their infrastructure.

While pledging GIFEC’s commitment to reach the poor communities, he also appealed for increase in funding for the organisation.

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