Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), along with the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation and Huawei, is 1 of 4 contestants shortlisted for the Outstanding Mobile Contribution to the UN SDGs; Addressing Digital Gaps to Support SDGs in Ghana, a Mobile World Conference (MWC) award.
This feat is in recognition of Ghana’s Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project (GRT&DIP), which is providing 2,016 telephony sites across the country, in an effort to ensure 99% mobile telephony connectivity, using both grid and solar energy, during the term of government of H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
The implementation of this project, spearheaded by the Minister for Communications and Digitalisation – Hon. Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, with GIFEC as the Implementation Agency, and Huawei as the key technology partner, adheres to the Sustainable Development Goals 13 and 17, with the use of solar energy and the adoption of strategic partnership for the achievement of project objectives.
This exceptional award highlights the very best examples of mobile connectivity – by the global Mobile Telephony eco-system – in recognising the players who are supporting and contributing to one or several of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
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Other organisations shortlisted for “Outstanding Mobile Contribution to the UN SDGs” category include:
- Ericsson for Air Quality Monitoring Project in India
- Knowledge Platform for Bridging Digital Divide in Education
- Qualcomm for Qualcomm Wireless Reach and Hapinoy for Hapinoy Mobile Business Hubs
- Safaricom, Close the Gap and Huawei for DigiTruck Project
The GRT&DIP is intended to provide 3G mobile telephony services to underserved and unserved communities, where Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have proven unable to extend their services due to economic constraints.
The GRTDIP therefore enhances the socioeconomic lives of beneficiaries as it connects them with the world, for the purposes of communications, trade, and financial inclusion.
