Government has given 30 days ultimatum to all mobile telecommunications operators to ensure that all their airtime voucher or scratch cards are printed locally. Eight months has elapsed since the directive was first issued in June last year, but Communications Minister Harruna Iddrisu tells Joy Business News only one out of the five service providers has complied. “I am personally displeased with that development and want to accordingly direct all telecom operators to show evidence of their local procurement initiatives to the regulator, the National Communications Authority, within the next 30 days,” he demanded. The directive was aimed at creating more business for local printing companies. He said as part of their licenses regime, telecommunications operators are supposed to work towards technology transfer. Mr Iddrisu was emphatic that the “government would not fail to sanction” any service providers that fail to meet the deadline, adding “government wants to encourage local Ghanaian entrepreneurship particularly in the printing industry”. The Minister noted that printing of scratch cards is “something that can easily, easily be manufactured and produced in Ghana”, and therefore expressed surprise at the reluctant stance by the operators to still import them from abroad. Story by Isaac Essel/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana