Accra, Ghana, February 21, 2020//-The CEO of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh has called on technology developers to develop locally relevant products and services to address the numerous challenges of the country.
According to him, relevant technologies could reduce crimes and improve food production in Ghana and other parts of Africa.
He made the call when he was engaging members of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG), as part of CIMG’s annual strategy to enable members engage industry leaders.
Mr Adadevoh who spoke on the topic: ‘The Evolution of Telecoms: The Digital Convergence and What It Means for Our Future’, said: “We need technology to develop locally relevant products that solve real Ghanaian problems”.
For instance, he cited the test-run of robots that clean dirty gutters in East Legon, a plush suburb of Accra; and precision agric technology being deployed by some startups.
Lust for speed
Mr Adadevoh was emphatic: “Our lust for speed is driving generational change in the telecoms industry”, hence the massive investments of the industry players to come out with 2G, 3G, 4G and lately G5 to provide supersonic internet speed for consumers.
2G cellular networks were commercially launched on the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard in Finland in 1991 that significantly enhance more efficient use of the radio frequency spectrum enabling more users per frequency band.
Another two benefits of the 2G networks over their predecessors were that phone conversations were digitally encrypted; and data services for mobile, starting with SMS text messages, according to him.
While “3G had unlocked a lot of opportunities for our consumers. But we could not meet all the demand of the consumers”, Mr Adadevoh stated.
In 2015, 4G came in, the 3G was largely based on the internet. The next stage for that convergence led to the evolution of 4G.
The unknown destination
“A destination better known as the “unknown”; so why are we so eager and excited by about the disruption ahead!”
Mr Adadevoh was quick to acknowledge the 6G will contribute to fill the gap between 2020 and beyond by addressing and supporting societal and business demands. While the 5G and its predecessors can provide support to consumers and industries.
Get everything connected
“The only way to get value for this connected world is to get everything connected. The power of digital convergence can reduce crimes in our cities”.
With 30 million Ghanaians, there are 41 million active SIM cards of which over 93% have internet access, the MTN Ghana CEO noted.
Also, there are 15 million people with mobile money accounts, so the exciting “unimaginable” future of digital convergence is already here, Mr Adadevoh added.
Digital convergence transcends all
Touching more on digital convergence, he emphasized that digital convergence transcends many industries and the traditional telecoms industry to several new areas.
“For us in Africa, this means the barriers of exclusion are being brought down by digital convergence”, Mr Adadevoh told the participants.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the 4th Industrial Revolution (4thIR) could create three million jobs in Africa by 2025.
Whereas by 2022, there are expected to be over 500 million new internet users in Africa to make 750 million in total.
Patronize local goods and services
The National President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG), Dr Daniel Kasetee used the occasion to entreat Ghanaians to patronize made in Ghana goods and services.
This he believes will lead to the creation of jobs for the teeming unemployed in the country.
African Eye Report
