The government will upgrade all Rural Telephony Project (RTP) sites across the country to at least 4G capability to improve connectivity and enhance digital services in underserved communities.

The Minister of Communications, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George, said the move was necessary because 2G and 3G connectivity were no longer adequate at a time when the world was advancing towards 5G and 6G technologies.

He said the upgrade formed part of a broader review of the Rural Telephony Project, which the Ministry would soon present to Cabinet.

“The world has moved to 5G, getting to 6G, so at the very least we must give 4G to our networks,” he said.

The Minister said this in an interview with the media after inspecting rural telephony sites at Dumpong, Nkumkrom, Nsakye and Obosono in the Akwapim South District, as well as an ongoing cell site at the Koforidua lorry terminal in the Eastern Region.

He was accompanied by Dr Edmund Yirenkyi Fianko, Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA); Mr Rashid Tanko Computer, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC); Mrs Rita Akosua Adjei Awatey, Eastern Regional Minister, and engineers from the Ministry, NCA and mobile network operators.

The visit formed part of the Ministry's nationwide assessment of telecommunications infrastructure to identify areas requiring urgent intervention.

Mr George said donor and mast sites under the RTP were already configured to support 4G services, but receiving equipment and radios at local sites needed upgrading.

He said Government would make deliberate investments in telecommunications infrastructure, just as it invested in roads, schools and hospitals.

“We must invest in telecom and decide that we are going to convert all our Rural Telephony sites to do a minimum of 4G, ready for 5G as well,” he said.

The Minister also announced plans to reverse additional charges associated with calls and data usage on some rural telephony networks.

He explained that some subscribers connected to RTP sites could have their regular data bundles bypassed, resulting in direct data charges.

He said the NCA was working with mobile network operators to undertake the technical integration required to resolve the challenge.

On network expansion, Mr George said MTN was deploying 800 new sites this year, while Telecel was constructing about 350, bringing the total number of new sites to about 1,100.

He said nearly 180 of MTN’s sites had already been completed, with about 400 expected to be operational by the end of the year and all 800 completed by the first or second quarter of 2027.

According to him, the development represented the biggest investment in cell-site infrastructure expansion by a major telecommunications operator in the past decade.

The Minister said the expansion, together with the ongoing 5G spectrum auction, would help reduce network congestion and improve service quality nationwide.

He said the government had allocated about GH¢30 million to rural telephony projects under the GIFEC budget this year, including GH¢4 million for urgent remedial works on 20 sites.

Some sites, he said, had suffered damage to radio equipment due to lightning strikes and power surges, while others required cabling works.

He announced that about 1,400 RTP sites were currently carrying traffic, with another 300 completed and awaiting connection to donor sites. About 300 additional sites remained under construction towards the project’s target of 2,016 sites.

The Government was also developing a peri-urban network strategy to address connectivity challenges in rapidly expanding communities and congested urban settlements.

He described it as “the biggest investment in infrastructure in terms of cell sites increase in the last 10 years” by a major telecommunications operator.

The Minister said the expansion, together with the ongoing 5G spectrum auction, was expected to ease network congestion and improve customer experience across the country.

“We’re going to do more of a peri-urban network that’s going to look at these new settlements that are springing up, both as telcos and as governments invest in building their infrastructure,” the Minister emphasised.

He appealed to communities to support the construction of new cell sites, assuring them that telecommunications infrastructure was regulated by the NCA, the Ghana Standards Authority and the Radiation Protection Institute.

“Cell sites do not produce radioactive waste. They produce radiation. Radiation is healthy,” he said.