Akwebu JHS benefit from 300 satellite TV project

The Minister for Communications, Mrs. Ursula Owusu Ekuful has launched the distribution of the 300 Satellite TV project at Akweibu Junior High School in Accra.

In her address to officially unveil the project on Wednesday, the Minister used the occasion to call on beneficiary communities to “protect and own” the equipment for elasticity.

“It is important that we work hard to make sure that no one is left behind and that’s why I mentioned in my presentation that through GIFEC, we are also working to connect many communities as possible to high speed voice and data connectivity so that they can also take advantage of some of the many initiatives that are available currently.” She said.

The minister in her address explained that the Satellite TV is one technology which will provide educative, informative and entertainment channels and programming for the beneficiary communities.

According to her, the high subscription by the available services have made it very difficult for majority of the rural communities to access and retain these services hence, the implementation of the digital drive.

“We have several operators in Ghana today but their services have not been able to reach majority of the rural communities largely because of the high cost of accessing and retaining subscription to these services.” She remarked.

The project is part of initiatives by the Chinese government to deepen ties with some African countries as part of its China Africa programme.

The China-Africa cooperation programme was announced by the Chinese President Xi Jinping, on December 4, 2015 in Johannesburg.

At the opening ceremony of the summit on China-Africa Cooperation, Xi Jinping said free Satellite TV would be given to 10, 000 African villages of which Ghana will have a share of 300 villages.

Mr Felix Ahonzo, Chief Operations Officer of StarTimes Ghana in his presentation at the launch, reiterated, that the project will go a long way to benefit the 300 communities and improve upon their lifestyle.

In the Ashanti region, 57 communities were selected, 43 from the Eastern region, 37 from the Greater Accra region and 35 from the Central region.

The rest are 31 from the Brong Ahafo region, Northern Region had 30 villages selected, Western region had 24, Volta region had 18, 17 villages were selected from the Upper East and 8 from the Upper West.

He however noted that StarTimes worked with the various districts and regional representatives to identify these communities for the selection process.

Adding that, the key considerations for the selection of the communities included access or availability of public places such as community hall, schools, hospitals and guaranteed safety of the installed devices among others.

“The beneficiary communities will have the unique opportunity to enjoy exiting, entertaining, informative and educative program from StarTimes’ rich content offering.” He commented.

Mr. Ahonzo also noted that a total of 20 channels, predominantly African content to cover News, entertainment, music, movies including “our own Ghanaian Adepa Channel will be available to the beneficiaries with six months’ free viewing to all selected households and free viewing at perpetuity to all public viewing places.”