The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, Mr. Kwaku Agyemang Manu has commended the Communications Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah for his efforts to expand mobile network across the country.

He said it was particularly relieving that the minister was putting measures in place to eliminate the situation where patches of the country’s highways are without mobile network connections.

Improved security for Ghanaians, he said, cannot be guaranteed if at some parts of the country's highways, drivers and commuters cannot make phone calls when faced with emergency situations.

Mr. Agyemang Manu said the availability of network connections along the highways was crucial to the fight against armed robbery and other criminal activities.

Dr Omane Boamah appeared before the Committee to answer questions on an audit report on the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC) and the Postal and Courier Services Regulatory Commission.

According to him, the government, through GIFEC, was investing heavily in new technologies to bring network connection to unserved and underserved areas in the country.

He said the provision of LTE technology under the GIFEC programme was definitely going to improve network accessibility in many underserved areas.

Long Term Evolution, marketed as 4G LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. It is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using a different radio interface together with core network improvements.