Bringing new media to Ghanaians: The political economy of Internet deployment

This is a political economy study of the policy and regulatory environment for Internet deployment in Ghana as illustrated by three identifiable models of deployment, namely private-corporate, social-development , and regional-system provider. It examines Ghana's telecommunications reform, the emergence of the three models of deployment, and the challenges that confront the regulatory body; the National Communications Authority (NCA). This research is based on data gathered through interviews and documents. The theory of political economy and the notion of the public interest are used to identify and discuss the complex nature of balancing the social, political and economic issues related to policy making and regulation in telecommunications.; In this research, some major Ghanaian telecommunications policy and regulatory documents are discussed, for instance, the Accelerated Development Program (1994--2000), and the National Telecommunications Policy (NTP). Also the NCA is examined as a bureaucratic entrepreneurial institution that needs to be responsive and effective as suggested by Rourke (1998) and Ayee (2000). The three models of Internet deployment in Ghana are discussed in terms of market and public sphere models (Croteau and Hoynes, 2000) in relation to their significance, as well as the role of the NCA to either facilitate or hinder the proliferation of each model.; The analysis in this study leads to the proposition that Ghana needs to learn from examples from other countries by adopting and customizing feasible policies and regulations as suggested by the theory of convergence in comparative public policy and illustrated by Witensky (2002).; It concludes that Ghana's performance in streamlining its regulatory system and promoting a private-sector-driven deployment of the Internet, and the development of its telecommunications industries has the potential of influencing policy and regulation in the sub-Saharan region of Africa. The outcome of Ghana's new policies and regulations have the prospect of either proving the value of, or exposing the inefficiencies in the principles of, liberalization, privatization and competition as key concepts in telecommunications policy and regulation.