Leading telecommunications service provider, MTN Ghana has suffered about 100 fibre cable cuts in the first two months of this year. The company recorded over 150 of such cuts in 2011. Officials are worried at the huge additional expenditure the company has had to incur in repairing the cable as well as the difficulties customers in affected areas have to experience in accessing telecommunication services. Corporate Service Executive, Cynthia Lumor told Luv Biz Report in Kumasi that the company spends an average Gh¢8,000 to fix the cables. She says between 50-70 percent of the cuts are as a result of road construction projects, whilst others are attributed to bush burning, theft and malicious activities of saboteurs. “We’re however working with various organizations to try and avoid the problem”, said Mrs Lumor. “We’re through the Telecoms Chamber, working with the Association of Road Contractors, Ghana Highway Authority [and] several governmental agencies to try and find ways to avoid the fibre cuts that occur when road construction is going on”. MTN has engaged editors and senior media practitioners in the Ashanti region as part of its annual editor’s fora held across the country. The Kumasi forum provided the company an opportunity to interact with the media on the company’s operations as well as share information on trends in the telecommunications industry. Issues discussed included MTN’s data drive, industry concerns, new products and services, network quality challenges and updates on regional activities. The interaction also focused on the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives by the MTN Foundation in the country. The Foundation has spent Gh¢7million since its establishment. Almost Gh¢700,000 has been invested in the Ashanti region, mostly is areas of health and education. MTN hopes to achieve its 11 millionth subscriber mark by the end of the year.