Mobile Telephony In Rural Ghana; Case Study: Moree, Central Region, Ghana

by Oluniyi David Ajao
2005-12-21 00:00:00 | Viewed 2079 times

This write-up by Oluniyi David Ajao throws a spotlight on a typical rural setting in the fishing communities in rural Ghana, and how mobile telephony affects their lives, using Moree as a case study.

Quick Facts about Moree About 15km from the regional capital, Cape Coast First Dutch settlement in Ghana (1632) Population of over 30,000 people with about 7,000 floating Background Information Moree is one of the largest indigenous towns in the Central Region of Ghana. It is mainly a fishing community, with its people laying claim to being the largest fishing community in Ghana. The town has 6 fishing landing points, and about 300 fishing boats.

The small-scale fishing economy in this community perched on a rocky headland overlooking the Atlantic is as dynamic as any larger economic unit. Any missing link in the production chain – a shortage of fish or wood for the smoking ovens, for example – spurs villagers to brainstorm for a solution and jump to fill the gap.

Pipe-born water flows into Moree, as well as electricity, from the national power grid. The town has a primary school, health center, a beach resort, a police station, as well as two rural banks. The road that leads right into the town is badly damaged, due to severe erosion, which also affects the rest of the town.

The current Minister for Fisheries, Honorable Gladys Asmah happens to be from this humble town, as well as the Member of Parliament for the constituency.

Telecommunication

As at time of writing, none of the 4 cellular networks in Ghana has extended its coverage to this town. Consequently, telephony is difficult for the people, though they are very hungry for modern communication technology.

This town has about 3 communication centers and there are at least four tabletop space-to-space operations that are basically two chairs, a table and a desktop GSM phone (popularly referred to as SPACE to SPACE business, in Ghana). These communication centers are mostly hooked up to Scancom’s GSM network – Areeba. Areeba is the only network that is patchily available in the town. Thus, the mobile communication centers have to be located at vintage points where they can receive the patchy GSM signal. This is usually at open spaces and hill tops. Those who own phones can also walk to the beach to make calls as the signal appears there a little, as well. Other cellular network’s signals do not reach this town, at all.

Despite the very sketchy coverage, many of the fishermen in this community have GSM phones, which they use in coordinating their fishing operations.

The mobile phones are also very useful to them, in that, they can network with fishermen in other communities, by communicating on where fishes have migrated to, so they can improve their chances of having a good catch.

Fishing in Moree is seasonal, and is based on the migration of the fishes. The fishes move to cooler areas, during the year, due to the rise in temperature, at the bottom of the ocean, seasonally.

A vintage point in this town is “Shalom Communication Centre” which has a radiophone, as well, as a ONEtouch Fixed Wireless Phone.

The radiophone has an equipment known as Tellular, that amplifies radio signals from Cape Coast. It is essentially a landline that has been extended from the nearest main city via radio waves. This is commonplace in rural Ghana, especially in towns that have not been covered by the state-owned Ghana Telecom’s (gt) fixed line network.

Mobile phones play a very crucial role in Moree despite its poor presence. The people reach their relatives in other parts of Ghana, for their needs as at when the need arises.

It is important to note that all the cellular networks in Ghana have been expanding their network coverage aggressively, in recent times. Though this is due to the severe competition between them, it is indeed a good thing as the people benefit, in the long run.

Areas that have been opened-up by modern telecommunication facilities and good road networks usually experience rapid economic growth as much of rural Ghana is agrarian. Thus, food crops / fishes can be moved to the main markets in the towns and cities (and even exported). This betters the lot of the people.

It is only a matter of time before real network coverage is extended to Moree. One can only hope that it doesn’t take too long.

Lastest Comments

Disclaimer: Mobile Africa is not responsible for comments posted on this forum.