Communications Minister Sam George has sworn in the new Board of Directors of PPL Net Ghana Limited, the company behind the AT Ghana brand.

The newly inaugurated Board, chaired by Hilary Denise Arko-Dadzie, has pledged to work with diligence and purpose to build a telecommunications platform Ghana can be proud of.

Other members of the Board are Eric Yaw Nsarkoh, Dr Faith Setor Quashigah, Lawrence Attipoe, Gabriel Opoku-Asare, Leo Skarlatos and Paul Osei.

At the swearing-in ceremony on Thursday, the Minister said spectrum allocation to PPL Net remained contingent on the company meeting key legal requirements, including the submission of audited accounts.

He explained that the National Communications Authority (NCA) could not legally issue spectrum to an entity that had failed to submit its audited accounts.

“The NCA cannot issue spectrum to a company or an entity that has not submitted audited accounts. These are base requirements that if you gloss over today, tomorrow can become questions on the grounds of the spectrum,” Sam George said.

The Minister disclosed that Cabinet had taken a decision on spectrum allocation to PPL Net and that he had issued a policy directive to the NCA to make spectrum available to the company in three different bands.

However, he said the directive was subject to the fulfilment of legal requirements, including the submission of audited accounts which were about a year in arrears.

“I issued a policy directive to the NCA to make spectrum available in, I think, three different bands to PPL, but contingent on meeting the legal requirement,” he said.

According to the Minister, almost two months had passed since the directive was issued, but it had not been implemented because there was no board in place to address the outstanding requirements.

Sam George also disclosed that he had issued a policy directive to GIFEIC on the release of access for PPL Net to use the GIFEIC core.

That directive, he said, was also subject to the company meeting legal requirements, including the submission of audited accounts and resolving issues concerning its directors.

“Apart from the audited accounts, there were issues about directors of the entity as well that needed to be addressed, and all of those needed to be addressed by the board,” he said.

The Minister tasked the new Board with taking the necessary steps to regularise the company’s records and resolve the outstanding matters.

“The board has its work cut out for it to ensure that you take the requisite steps to sort out the audited accounts and then also do the necessary changes to the Registrar of Companies on the directors that exist, especially for PPL, so that we can immediately move to the next phase of what has to be done with both AT Ghana and PPL Net Ghana Limited,” he said.

He described the swearing-in as the “last trigger” for the implementation of the various policy directives issued by the ministry.

“This is the last trigger that’s basically to begin to have the cascading effect on all the things that we’ve given policy directives on. It’s been almost two months since the ministry issued a policy directive but it’s not been actioned because there’s no board,” he said.

In a presentation titled “A New Board. A New Chapter,” PPL Net outlined its ambition to become a fully Ghanaian-managed and Ghanaian-run telecommunications platform.

“For the first time, a telecom platform in Ghana that is fully Ghanaian-managed and Ghanaian-run, top to bottom,” the presentation stated.

The company said it would seek to build a more effective network while ensuring that critical national telecommunications infrastructure remained locally owned and managed.

It described the platform as “genuinely Ghana-flavoured”, shaped by Ghanaian ownership, priorities and oversight.

The presentation also highlighted plans to develop services in Ghanaian local languages using artificial intelligence, while strengthening support for mobile money and mobile fintech services.

The company concluded its presentation with the pledge: “We will not let Ghana down.”

The Chief Executive Officer of PPL Net welcomed the inauguration and expressed gratitude to the government for its support and confidence in the company.

“We recognise the significance of this moment, and we do not take it for granted,” the CEO said.

The CEO also commended staff for keeping the network operational during what was described as a stressful period.

The company said the dedication of its employees had helped sustain the network as it worked to establish a new chapter for the business.

PPL Net Ghana Limited was created in November 2024 to take over the assets and staff of AT Ghana, preserve jobs and prepare the company for eventual investment.

The company is wholly owned by Airtel Ghana, which is in turn fully owned by the Government of Ghana.

With the new Board now in place, PPL Net is expected to address its outstanding audited accounts and directors’ registration requirements to unlock spectrum allocation and advance its plans to expand the AT Ghana network.