Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), as part of the Ghana Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project, has built 1,010 sites with 569 of them on Air. The Project Acceptance Test for 1000 sites and Core Network (Accra and Kumasi) were about 75 per cent complete and rectification of identified snags is ongoing. Mr. Prince Ofosu Sefah, the Administrator of GIFEC, speaking at the maiden edition of 'Time with the Editor' organised by the Fund said 1,250 sites were acquired with 250 additional sites being acquired, bringing it to a total of 1,510 sites. He said to address backhauling issues, several efforts have been undertaken, including Satellite technology, and extensive research on TV whitespace technology. The Administrator said the negotiations with TowerCos had been completed and the contract was ready for execution around MNOs, negotiation on Interconnection Rates had been completed with streamlining of Power Payment at the Rural Site. He said the Fund had set up about 90 C yberlabs for schools, especially about the Girls in ICT Programme, in select Regions with Computers and Accessories, including printers and Projectors, expressing the hope that the number would double in the coming year. He said they had also set up e-assessments in over 120 Schools in select Regions and had conducted maintenance to 183 Cyberlabs under the School Connectivity Project. 'We have provided 1,500 computers in multiple Regions, including Greater Accra, Eastern Region, Ashanti Region, Volta Region, Oti Region, Central Region, Western Region, Ahafo Region, Bono Region, Bono East Region, and Northeast Region,' he added. The Cyberlabs Programme involves the provision of Computers, Printers, Scanners, Projectors, Thin Clients and Servers to Schools, Institutions and Persons with Disabilities. The objective is to facilitate efforts at providing ICT facilities in designated Schools and Institutions in Unserved and Underserved Communities in Ghana. He said the Fund had equipped seven new Community ICT Centres (CIC) under the CICs Project in the Eastern and Northern Regions. He said the project involved the establishment of public access ICT Centres to provide community-wide access to full ICT services at publicly available locations in Underserved and Unserved Communities. Source: Ghana News Agency