Will The Elusive Globacom Offer us Better Value for Money?

Let us be clear: if you promise me that you will be arriving in a country in September, yet two months later, you have not made your presence known, might you not be considered to represent the word “elusive”? If so, then you might want to join me in tagging Ghana's sixth operator Globacom as a fitting candidate. Consider this. As far back as March this year, its website on gloworld.com read: “Glo Mobile Ghana is set to change the face of communication in Ghana as it engages ZTE, a highly-rated international telecoms vendor, to deploy additional access network infrastructure including hundreds of indoor and outdoor Basic Trans-receiver Stations (BTS) for its imminent roll-out.” Given the lengthy delay of Globacom's entry into the country, could cynics be blamed for becoming weary at a combination of tardy Nigerian services with Chinese technology feared as sub-standard to be a harbinger of bad tidings for the festive season?

Tigo far from Trailing the Telco Competition

On a more serious side, given the serious competition going on off late, might Globacom not have arrived on the bad side of telco competition? If you are scratching your head in wonderment, you must have missed something: Zain has gone in overdrive to reward--and appease--all those new customers that have been complaining that they do not enjoy the bonus all those older customers get at the end of every two months. You can now send a message to a number, which will enable you enjoy all you spent in the day the following day.

Tigo might have stolen Zain's thunder, if truth be told, for it's value-added-service of paying 3.99GHC for a month to one Tigo number is doing wonders for those who have subscribed. Although you can add only one number at a time, imagine how much money you would have spent had you been calling a regular number without this promotion? In my book, Tigo is winning in so far as many others join the Tigo revolution.

Vodafone Vodoo!

For a person who has more erstwhile ONETOUCH chips than sense, you could say I have become a sage!

I have decided to abandon my vodafone chips. I just don't feel I am getting value for money. Last month, I got my bonus credit from
Zain, looked at my Vodafone chips and shrugged.

"Just not worth it" I thought.

These days, using a mobile phone is not just about convenience, it is also about accommodating the necessary headache of buying units. Given the relatively execrable quality of lines these days at peak times (read: saturation!), you are likely to have dropped calls, which inevitably lead one to consider using secondary networks--which all cost money to maintain. Promotions do not a telco make, but when the only one they are also offering is as elusive as the arrival of Globacom into the country, then I begin to wonder whether it is not time to offer some TLC--tender loving care-- to my disposable income!

Tech Appeal 191

• Despite the fact that the Spintex Road is undergoing fresh tarring, given the execrable number of potholes there, tro-tros, more than any other kind of commercial driver, is behaving badly by overtaking and stopping on the shoulder of the roads when they could simply follow the queue. This morning, one of those Ashanti-bound American cars illegally overtook us as we were slowing down and, without warning, moved in front of us. This kind of intimidation does not help tempers in the morning. Does NRSC have a number to call to check these types?
• I humbly submit that ALL news stations--from GTV through to METRO TV to TV3--set up numbers--either Multimedia messaging service (MMS) numbers or simple emails--where the Ghanaian public can either send pictures of bad driving of social ills, such as parked cars without triangles, etc. This way, every Ghanaian would feel involved in helping make Ghana a better place. More importantly, the spate of camera phones would be put to better use now that many people are beginning to feel the pinch of buying new phones in these hard, economic times.
• Will the Ghana police consider joining FACEBOOK, or having a twitter account? Imagine informing twitter “followers” and Facebook users that there is traffic up ahead on the Spintex Road? The service should think about the wonders that would bring to road management! Their website on ghanapolice.info is this side short of bad, with latest news giving information posted in March 2009!

ekbensah@gmail.com / 0268.891.841 / http://twelvedaysintunis.blogspot.com

*this piece will originally appear in upcoming edition of WEEKEND WORLD, to hit newstands this weekend