Vodafone Ghana intends to roll out a new chain of stores across the country as part of what the company’s Chief Executive Officer describes as a big plan to enhance customer experience and to stay at the forefront of innovation in the telecommunications industry. Kyle Whitehill says Vodafone is customer obsessed and eager to exceed expectation with the best products and customer experience, especially through its franchise operations, which currently has over 200 independent internet cafés across the country. He told Luv Biz Report the company plans to “take its franchise concept to as many parts of the country as we possibly can over the next 2 to 3 years. My own view is that we need to be able to provide internet access to every single Ghanaian”. Mr. Whitehill spoke to Luv Biz Report when he commissioned the first ultra-modern campus internet café at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to afford the university community access to Vodafone’s 3G experience. The facility marks the first new stream of educational cafés aimed at providing a technologically enhanced learning environment for Ghanaian students “with the ultimate aim of empowering them to reach their potential”. Mr. Whitehill is confident the facility will meet the educational and lifestyle needs of students, faculty and residents of Kumasi. “We believe that it will improve the quality of teaching, learning and research in this University, while catering for the needs of customers in the region as well”, he stated. The café has a library, a discussion area, and other ancillary facilities. Vodafone has already increased the KNUST’s internet bandwidth from 13mps to 145mps to enhance internet connectivity and access speed on the campus. Speaking in an interview with Luv Biz Report, Mr. Whitehill stated that “it would be very selfish for Vodafone to say that this is only for KNUST but I think what we’re proud of is that we delivery this so quickly and faster for KNUST but yes we’d love to have this in other universities”. Vice-Chancellor of the KNUST, Professor William Otoo Ellis, is hopeful the facility will promote research, innovation and development on campus. “Since knowledge and information have become the most important tool for productivity, competitiveness and increased wealth/productivity, institutions such as ours have a role to expose our products to effective systems and procedures in maximizing the benefits of their knowledge through the use of information communication technology”, he stressed.