<<Print>>

American Tower Corporation Ghana (ATC Ghana), according to US Ambassador to Ghana Virginia Palmer, is the largest US investor in the nation, having invested millions of dollars to build and acquire over 4,000 telecom towers as well as approximately 19 Digital Communities ICT Learning Centers.

She was addressing a gathering during the opening of one of the 19 ATC Ghana Digital Communities ICT Learning Centers at the Ghana Girl Guides Association (GGGA) location in Achimota, Accra.

With 33 seats, the Digital Communities ICT Learning Center is intended to help girls and women in Achimota and the surrounding areas learn basic ICT skills, coding, programming, drone technology, and other relevant digital skills that will make them competitive in Ghana and around the world.

A nationwide tower co-location strategy, in fact, was the driving force behind ATC Ghana's arrival in Ghana. Its goal was to separate all telecom tower operations from the main responsibilities of the conventional MNOs and hand them off to independent organizations. For that reason, ATC Ghana made significant investments to buy towers from MTN Ghana and Vodafone Ghana. Later, it bought all of the towers run by Eaton Towers, another independent tower company in the nation. Over 60% of telecom towers in Ghana are under the ownership of ATC Ghana as of the most recent count.

In order to provide access to its towers' benefits—which now extend beyond voice calls—for underprivileged Ghanaians living in unserved and underserved locations, the business has expanded its role in maintaining co-location towers to include the establishment of ICT centers throughout the nation.

Despite the fact that Virginia Palmer could not specify how much ATC Ghana has invested in the country, she did state that records of US investments in Ghana made available to the Embassy show that ATC Ghana has the largest US investment in the country.

According to Ashutosh Singh, CEO of ATC Ghana, ATC's sustainability plan includes investing in Communities ICT Learning Centers to make sure that the vast majority of people in the nations where it operates receive the full advantage of the infrastructure it offers.

By 2026, he claims, ATC hopes to have constructed at least 600 Community ICT Learning Centers throughout its seven African operational nations. They have already opened 19 locations in Ghana, and more are on the way.

He stated that because the centers are intended to teach fundamental ICT skills like coding and programming, which may help users advance in their jobs, they are accessible to people of all ages in addition to youngsters.

About the impact thus far, he mentioned that an internal impact assessment was being conducted to find out how many individuals have benefited from the centers thus far and how they have improved their lives.

Marek Busfy, CEO of ATC Africa, stated that the more than 4,000 ATC towers in Ghana are only a small portion of the approximately 25,000 ATC towers throughout Africa, and that ATC is still able to link individuals via these towers.

According to him, the decision to invest in ICT centers was made in knowledge that, in the absence of access, towers alone cannot fully connect a population.

Prior to this 33-seater ICT Center, the Ghana Girl Guides Association's head, Zakiya Abdul-Wahab, said the organization had an 11-seater ICT Center at its headquarters in Accra as a consequence of a five-year cooperation with ATC Ghana.

With only 75 members when it first began a few years ago in Ghana, GGGA now boasts over 200,000 girls nationwide, she says. She also adds that since STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is becoming a crucial component of development, especially for girls, the organization is grateful for the availability of these centers.