Ghana’s maiden and only licensed telecoms interconnect clearinghouse (ICH) operator, Afriwave Telecoms has become the latest private sector member of the Smart Africa Alliance (SAA).
Smart Africa Alliance announced this on its website, saying that the two organizations “will work together towards the vision of transforming Africa into a single digital market.”
In effect, Ghana’s maiden ICH, which was incubated ten years ago has now gone international and would soon start offering clearinghouse services to industry players outside of Ghana.
Smart Africa is an alliance of 32 African countries, international organizations and global private sector players tasked with defining Africa’s digital agenda. The alliance is empowered by a bold and innovative commitment by African Heads of State to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent and usher Africa into the knowledge economy through affordable access to broadband and the use of ICTs. With a vision to create a single digital market in Africa by 2030, the Smart Africa Alliance brings together Heads of State who seek to accelerate the digitalization of the continent and create a common market.
The CEO and Director-General of Smart Africa Secretariat, Lacina Koné noted that Ghana has been a committed member of the Smart Africa Alliance therefore it is an honour to welcome the first wholly own Ghanaian company joining the Alliance.
He added that “More importantly, Afriwave Telecom’s membership presents an opportunity to leverage Afriwave Telecom’s experience and that of other Smart Africa Private Sector members as we take steps towards developing a blueprint for the deployment of national and regional Interconnect Clearinghouse across Africa.”
This comes at a time when Ghana is on a massive digitalization drive, which has caught global attention and promises to make Ghana the digital hub within the West Africa region, if not the whole of Africa.
Afriwave Telecom
Afriwave Telecom is a Ghanaian company established in 1998 to provide telecommunications solutions in Ghana and beyond. It is the first and the only licensed Interconnect Clearinghouse (ICH) Operator in Ghana and currently provides national telecommunications interconnect clearinghouse services to licensed Mobile Network Operators (MTN, Vodafone, AirtelTigo and Glo Mobile) in Ghana.
Afriwave Telecom also provides international telecommunications interconnect clearinghouse services to International Wholesale Carriers who route international telecom traffic into Ghana. The operations of ICH have brought several benefits to the Ghana telecom sector and Afriwave telecom is looking forward to extending its services to other parts of Africa and therefore ready to collaborate with other stakeholders with similar ambitions and objectives.
“For us in Afriwave Telecom, joining the Smart Africa Alliance is a dream come true and this is because the Smart Africa Alliance has a unique institutional framework that brings together all the relevant stakeholders to accelerate the Africa digital transformation agenda. And we look forward to taking advantage of this unique opportunity to consolidate our operations in Ghana, Africa and other parts of the world. We are also looking forward to collaborating with other Interconnect Clearinghouse Operators in Africa and beyond as we contribute towards achieving the One Africa Network objectives of Smart Africa,”.Mr. Francis Poku, Deputy CEO, Afriwave Telecom.
ICH services provide a simple, cost-effective and reliable point of interconnection and interconnection links leading to a reduction in interconnect OPEX and CAPEX; efficient handling of new and traditional interconnect requirements; provides a point of interconnection and reduces the entry barrier to other service providers into the telecom interconnect ecosystem; provides independent verification and reconciliation of interconnect billing records to enhance quick clearing and settlements among connecting entities.
About Smart Africa
Smart Africa is an alliance of 32 African countries, international organisations and global private sector players tasked with Africa’s digital agenda. The alliance is empowered by a bold and innovative commitment by African Heads of State to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development on the continent and usher Africa into the knowledge economy through affordable access to broadband and the use of ICTs. With a vision to create a single digital market in Africa by 2030, the Smart Africa Alliance brings together Heads of State who seek to accelerate the digitalization of the continent and create a common market. Launched in 2013 by seven (7) African Heads of State, the Alliance now has 32 member countries, representing over 815 million people and over 40 Private Sector members committed to the vision and the advancement of Africa.
