NCA Celebrates the WTISD with A Symposium on the Theme “Big Data, Big Impact”

In line with the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day (WTISD) celebrations on May 17, the National Communications Authority (NCA),  organised a symposium on the theme “Big Data, Big Impact” at the NCA Tower, Airport City in Accra. The symposium, which marks the 152nd Anniversary of the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the formation of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), aimed at raising awareness of the possibilities that the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies. The workshop also aided stakeholders to leverage insights in identifying new opportunities to creatively address sustainable development challenges with regards to big data.

Mr. Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, Board Chairman of the NCA, delivering his address.

The newly appointed Board Chairman of the NCA, Mr. Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, in a statement read on behalf of the ITU Secretary General, noted that the insight brought about by this analysis of data will enable evidence-based decision-making at national, regional and international levels and help the implementation of all 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. He also stressed that countless opportunities will also be identified as we learn to better perfect and harness big data, and understand the impact big data can have as a global good.

Mr. Sakyi- Addo urged participants to use the occasion to take a closer look at the importance of governance and regulation, as well as the implications for personal privacy and security given the future exponential growth in data and connectivity.

Also present at the symposium was Mad. Cynthia Prah representating the UN Resident Coordinator in Ghana. She reiterated that Big Data can transform communications and that the UN is ready to learn from discussions from the conference.

Mad. Cynthia Prah delivering a message on behalf of the UN Resident Representative in Ghana

The Deputy Minister for Communications, Hon. Mr. George Andah, MP, indicated in his keynote address that there are calls on government to empower young people to develop ICT tools that improve the experience of health and effective frameworks to protect the use of private data, intellectual property as well as to deter online criminal activity.

Deputy Minister for Communications, Hon. Mr. George Andah giving the keynote address.

The Hon. Deputy Minister, who doubles as the Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya West Constituency in the Central Region, urged participants to be security conscious in order not to expose our entire behavioural pattern online and take personal interest on who collects their personal data and for what purposes.

He also stated that Government has put in place a tier-3 National Data Centre with a 600 rack capacity in anticipation of the need for a reliable storage facility for public and private sector data in a secured environment and urged the private sector to take advantage of the facility to support their operations.

Participants in a group picture after the opening ceremony.

The workshop saw representatives from the Ministry of Communications, Ghana Technology University College, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER). Ghana Statistical Services, Data Protection Commission, Service Providers from the Communications Industry among others.

A cross-section of participants present at the symposium.

A flag raising ceremony was held to climax the celebration reinforcing a message of inter-national cooperation.

 Mad. Cynthia Prah, Hon. George Andah and Mr. Kwaku Sakyi-Addo hoisting the UN, Ghana and ITU flags respectively.

The various topics discussed were related to the theme. The resource persons that were drawn from academia and industry effectively engaged participants present at the symposium.

The theme for WTISD-17, “Big Data for Big Impact”, focuses on the power of Big Data for development and aims to explore how to turn imperfect, complex, often unstructured data into actionable information in a development context.

Issued by the National Communications Authority.

NCA Tower,

No. 6 Airport City, Accra.

Tel: (0)30 – 2776621/2771701 or 050-145-1522/3.

E-mail: info@localhost

Date – Wednesday, 17^th May, 2017

Editor’s Note

About NCA

The National Communications Authority, (NCA), was established by an Act of Parliament, Act 524 in December 1996, which has been repealed and replaced by the National Communications Authority Act,  2008 (Act 769). The Authority is the statutory body mandated to license and to regulate electronic communication activities and services in the country.

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day

In November 2006, the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, decided to celebrate both events on 17 May as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. The updated Resolution 68 invites Member States and Sector Members to celebrate the day annually by organizing appropriate national programmes with a view to:

• stimulating reflection and exchanges of ideas on the theme adopted by the Council
• debating the various aspects of the theme with all partners in society
• formulating a report reflecting national discussions on the issues underlying the theme, to be fed back to ITU and the rest of its membership.