Communications Minister Samuel Nartey George Directs Upgrade of All Rural Telephony Sites to Minimum 4G Standard | Discuss Ghana

Minister for Communications and Digitalisation Hon. Samuel Nartey George has called for an immediate directive to upgrade all Rural Telephony Project sites across Ghana to at least a 4G network standard, signaling a policy shift away from legacy mobile technology.

Addressing sector stakeholders, the Minister emphasized that legacy 2G and 3G connectivity are no longer sufficient to meet the economic and educational demands of rural communities as global telecom infrastructure rapidly shifts toward 5G and future 6G deployments.

Key Highlights of the Communications Policy Push

Phasing Out Legacy Connectivity:

Inadequacy of 2G/3G: The Minister asserted that limiting rural and underserved communities to 2G or 3G connectivity deepens the digital divide, restricting access to digital financial services, e-learning, and high-speed internet.

Upgrading GIFEC Infrastructure: The policy call targets infrastructure managed under the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), urging mobile network operators and tower managers to retrofit rural base transceiver stations (BTS) with 4G-capable equipment.

Preparing for Next-Generation Networks:

Future-Proofing Infrastructure: With Ghana expanding commercial 5G deployments, the ministry aims to ensure that rural citizens are not left behind on obsolete technology, enabling seamless connectivity across all regions of the country.

Socio-Economic Empowerment: Upgrading rural sites to high-speed 4G is expected to boost local commerce, agricultural value chains, and access to public digital services in remote districts.