The Chairman of Parliament’s Committee on Information and Communications, Hon. Dr. Abednego Lamangin Bandim, has called for urgent action to address frequent telecommunications network disruptions affecting parts of northern Ghana.
Dr. Bandim, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bunkpurugu expressed particular concern about disruptions to the MTN network and said the frequency and duration of the outages, coupled with inadequate communication to affected consumers, were becoming increasingly worrying.
In a statement issued on September 27, 2026, he said he personally experienced a major network disruption while travelling from Salaga to Tamale on Saturday, September 26.
According to him, the network went off at about 11:00 a.m. and was not restored until around 6:00 p.m.
He said he had also received reports of similar disruptions in several communities, including parts of the Damongo and Bunkpurugu areas, with the network reportedly experiencing another disruption the following morning.
While acknowledging that telecommunications operators could face unforeseen technical challenges, including fibre cuts and other infrastructure-related faults, Dr. Bandim said such challenges should not result in consumers being left without timely information.
He said affected customers were often left to speculate about the cause of outages, the areas affected, how long the disruption was expected to last and measures being taken to restore services.
“The absence of advance notice cannot mean the absence of communication altogether,” he said, stressing the need for operators to use alternative communication platforms when network services were unavailable.
He cited radio, television and social media as some of the channels that could be used to provide timely information to affected communities.
Dr. Bandim also raised concerns about the wider consequences of prolonged telecommunications outages, particularly for healthcare, education, businesses, financial transactions, transportation, media operations and public safety.
He noted that hospitals could be affected when patients, relatives and healthcare professionals were unable to communicate, while students and researchers could lose access to educational materials and institutional communication.
The Committee Chairman therefore called on MTN Ghana to strengthen its communication protocols and ensure that consumers were promptly informed whenever major network outages occurred.
He also urged the National Communications Authority (NCA) to pay particular attention to the frequency and duration of telecommunications disruptions in northern Ghana and ensure that service providers meet their obligations to consumers.
Dr. Bandim further called on telecommunications operators to establish effective contingency communication arrangements that would enable them to communicate with affected communities through alternative platforms when network services were unavailable.
He said he would continue to monitor the situation and engage relevant stakeholders to better understand the causes of the recurring disruptions and measures being taken to prevent them.
“We cannot continue to accept a situation where communities are repeatedly disconnected from essential communication services and are then left without any meaningful explanation,” he said.
He emphasised that reliable telecommunications services were now essential to healthcare, education, commerce, emergency response and everyday life, and urged MTN Ghana and the relevant regulatory authorities to treat the matter with the urgency it deserved.
By: Christian Kpesese
