Star Times loses Ghana contract
January 21, 2015
By Chris Forrester
Ghana’s Ministry of Communications has cancelled a contract with pay-TV operator Star Times Group. The initial contract was to supply a DTT system for Ghana. The contract was signed in April 2012 with Star Communications Network Technology.
The cancellation means it is now wholly likely that Ghana will miss the ITU’s June analogue switch-off deadline.
The Tanzania government has cancelled a similar contract with StarTimes over delays to project funding and implementation, and allegations that inadequate due diligence was carried out.
The Ghana cancellation comes about because Star Times has not secured funding for the task. According a letter written by Communications Minister Dr. Edward Omane Boamah to Ghana’s Attorney-General, is due to the failure of the company to secure the necessary funding from the China Exim Bank to execute the project.
As the deadline for the migration from analogue to digital broadcasting approaches, the minister said his ministry “is yet to receive the financing agreement and the funding required for the implementation of the project”.