Teleom monitoring system will check fraud-Iddrisu

THE decision to introduce a monitoring system in telecommunication operations is not to encroach on the privacy of consumers but to check fraud, says the Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrissu.
Mr Iddrissu maintained that he had heard some people complain about the government’s decision to introduce the monitoring system and pointed out that the exercise was meant to check any mobile phone operator who might indulge in fraud.
Speaking at the this year’s commemoration of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day and Consumer Forum in Accra yesterday, he explained that it was to detect international calls which were fraudulently made to look like local calls by some operators to enable them to cheat the system.
The theme for the occasion was: Improving ICT Service Together for a Better Ghana”.
As part of the event, a forum for representatives of consumer groups, the media, and the general public was also organised where representatives of all the six telecommunication companies in the country made statements and also answered questions from the public.
The companies were TiGO, Zain, MTN, Glo, Kasapa and Vodafone. The Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Mr Bernard A. Forson, also had some questions to answer.
Many of the questions bordered on the performance of the telecommunication service providers and the role of the NCA and the individual providers in getting things done right.
In addition, Mr Iddrissu took the opportunity to urge the NCA to publish the quality of service of the individual phone operators to enable the public to know which one was performing better. He challenged operators in the industry to improve the services being provided to the Ghanaian consumer.
On access to information communication and technology (ICT) in educational institutions, the Communications Minister said the government would by next year ensure that all the 38 colleges of education in the country were connected to the Internet.
In his welcoming address, the Chairman of the board of the NCA, Mr Kofi Totobi Quakyi, said in spite of the fact that Ghana had moved higher in the area of accessing Information and Communication Technology as compared to other countries, there still existed gaps, especially in the rural areas.
He pointed out that ICT was playing a significant role in the lives of peoples the world over adding that it was helping to connect millions who would have hitherto remained isolated.
Mr Quakyi explained that the objective of the celebration, which was set aside by the UN was to stimulate discussion on the way forward, to empower majority of the people on ICT use and among others.
In a speech read on his behalf on the occasion, the UN Secretary-General, Mr Ban Kim Moon, said in today’s world, telecommunications were more than just a basic service, they were means to promote development, improve society and save lives, adding that “This will be all the more true in the world of tomorrow”.
He pointed out that the importance of telecommunications was on display in the wake of the earth quake which devastated Haiti earlier this year.
Communications technologies, the UN boss said, were used to co-ordinate, optimise resources and provide desperately sought information about the victims.