Ghana's Chamber of Telecommunications will impose a 50% tariff reduction on imported mobile phones, from 20% to 10%, and has also announced the removal of Value Added Tax (VAT) on these devices.

The government says the moves are in line with the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) Common External Tariff and stem from requests tabled at an interactive forum held in Accra and organised by the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) earlier this year.

Dr. Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, Ghana's Honourable Minister of Communication said, "Ghana was amongst the first countries in Africa to connect to the Internet and in the last few years we have seen a surge in Internet usage and mobile broadband connections. However, we know we need to build on these successes so that all Ghanaians can access affordable broadband."

Ghana's Chamber of Telecommunications has urged importers and marketers of mobile phones in the country and those with assembling facilities to ensure that these reductions in import duties reflect in the market prices of their mobile phones.

"Following our persistent dialogue with government and relevant key stakeholders—particularly the Ministries of Communications, and Finance government tax regime has been aligned with that of the ECOWAS CET, reducing the import duty on handsets from 20 to 10 percent," said Kwaku Sakyi Addo, CEO of the Telecoms Chamber.

Commending Ghana's lofty moves in boosting internet access, Priya Jaisinghani, Director of Mobile Solutions for the US Agency for International Development described Ghana as a highly dynamic country that is aligning its regulations and policies so that it can capitalise on its robust telecommunications sector.

"This approach will enable Ghanaians and others to take full advantage of the digital opportunity and to help build a more inclusive future," Jaisinghani said.