Ghana Internet Policy

Ghana was one of the first countries to be connected to internet in Africa.^[1]

History

Ghana became the next country to have internet in the Sub Sahara. Internet services began in Ghana in 1995.^[2] This was made possible through the collaborations between Network Computer Systems (NCS), Pipex International, The Ministry of Transport and Communication of Ghana, Ghana Telecom, and British Telecom.^[3] NCS had registered ghana.com domain in 1993.

Wireless internet

Ghana has over 15 internet service providers who mostly provide different forms of internet services. Most of these ISPs provide wireless internet. And these include all the telcos in Ghana.

Internet speed

According to bandwithplace, Ghana's internet speed hovers around an average of 1.46 Mbps uploads across most of the internet enabled devices tested.^[4]

Internet accessibility

There are over 7.9 million internet users in Ghana who mostly access the internet from mobile devices.^[5]

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  Ghana Internet Activities

Internet service providers

There are a number of ISPs in Ghana, apart from the major telecommunication companies like MTN Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, Airtel Africa, Millicom and Globacom there are other companies like Africaonline, ADTech IT,Blue Cloud Network which also provide internet services. There is also Busyinternet and Surfline which offers wireless internet services through their omternet enabled devices.Internet closure during elections

Net neutrality

As it stands now, Ghana does not have any provisions on net neutrality.^[6] This has raised concerns and brought together netizens and tech firms to protest for this provision in Ghana^[7][8]

Ghana has however faced a net neutrality crisis in the past. This was as a result of the NCA wanting to ban sites like Skype,Whatsapp,Viber and other internet based instant mesaaging platforms with the excuse of they causing losses to telcos in Ghana.This campaign was led by telecommunication giant MTN which complained of losses due to peoples continuous use of these platfroms which reduced the number of calls. This brought a huge debate and in the end this never happened.^[9] NCA reacted to this that their press statement was take out of context and the said bad was not going to happen anytime.^[10]

Internet censorship

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without judicial oversight. Individuals and groups engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.^[11]

Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, the government sometimes restricts those rights. The police arbitrarily arrest and detain journalists.^[12] Some journalists practice self-censorship. The constitution prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government respects these prohibitions in practice.^[11]

In 2002 the government of Ghana censored Internet media coverage of tribal violence in Northern Ghana.^[13]

Data centers

• National Information Technology Agency (NITA)

Cyber Fraud

Cyber fraud has been a major issue in Ghana like most developing countries in the world. A Kenyan IT firm report that Ghana lost over $50 million due to cyber fraud this was projected to increase to around $100 million in 2018.^[16] Several people both Ghanaians and foreigners have also been arrested in crimes relating to cyber fraud.^[17] I Notable among these crimes is the sim box fraud.^[18][19][20] In 2017 he National Cyber Security Week was held in Ghana to bring stakeholders together to help address issues of cyber security and cyber fraud.^[21]

Internet laws in Ghana

The laws governing internet in Ghana include

References