The federal government of Ghana announced plans to generate more than $150 million in order to finance broadcast communications upgrades mandated since 2006 by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
The announcement was made by Ghana’s President John Mahama at the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) conference held in Accra, Ghana this week. President Mahama stated that the federal government of Ghana would auction off analogue radio frequencies to finance the movement of television broadcasts to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), expected to be completed next year.
“We are hoping of realizing in excess of $150 million US dollars and also looking at building the infrastructure with $80 million US dollars, while extra savings would also go into other capital projects in the country,” President Mahama said of this digital dividend project.
President Mahama said that he hoped the auctioning process would be completed by September and that “lots of operators and investors have already shown interest.”
According to him, the government was now trying to build a single national platform for all broadcasters to use rather than issuing frequencies to private broadcasters, stating that it would help all broadcasters in the country.
SaharaReporters gathered that just 60 community radio stations are spread across the districts of Ghana and that the present government is delaying in issuing more frequencies for the birth of new radio stations.
He also said that the impact of community radio stations was been felt everywhere in the country even more than the commercials radio stations.
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