[Chapter-delegates] PRESS RELEASE: ghNOG and ISOC Ghana Successfully organise Second E0 Localization Workshop

[Eric Akumiah]

Press Release – for immediate Release
Accra, Ghana, April 2010 - The Ghana Network Operators' Group (ghNOG) and the Internet Society, 
Ghana Chapter have successfully organized the second ghNOG workshop and meeting dubbed ghNOG-2.
The four-day workshop on UNIX Systems Administration was a result of the Internet Society and
AfNOG’s localization initiative of the track to the country level to help develop local capacity. The
Workshop was attended by 24 participants, who were from various backgrounds, such as financial
institutions, Internet Service Providers, academia, non-profit and government organisations.
 
The Workshop instructors were all volunteers with varied backgrounds and alumni of AfNOG workshops.
The ghNOG workshops are scheduled to be organized twice every year. The University of Education,
Winneba has been selected to host the next workshop, which will take place during the last week of
July.
 
After the Workshop, a one-day Meeting, which was attended by 50 participants, was held under the
theme, Towards an Enhance Internet infrastructure. The Meeting was officially opened by, Honourable
Gideon Quarcoo, the Deputy Minister of communication of the Republic of Ghana. In his opening
keynote address, the Deputy Minister challenged the workshop participants to take up the mantle and
fight for the emancipation of Ghana and Africa from the poor state of technology. Prof. Nii Quaynor,
Chairman of ISOC Ghana and convener of AfNOG in his opening remarks also called on participants to
work together as a community to make technology affordable for the people. Dr. Osei Dankwa,
President of Ghana Telecom University and host of the event, who chaired the opening ceremony,
further challenged participants to bring their collective efforts to improve the Ghana Internet statistics,
which is still abysmally low.
 
A panel discussion chaired by Prof Quaynor on the recent proposal from the International Telecom Union (ITU) to become a 6th Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for IPv6 in trust for developing countries was organised during the meeting. Panelists were generally of the view that for Africa, AfriNIC was doing a good job and there was no need for another Registry to assign IPv6. The discussants, who were telecommunication and academic network operators, ISPs, as well as from user community and regulators also underscored the fact that the AfriNIC policy development model for allocation of IPv6 was a bottom-up approach and was very satisfactory. Mr. Joshua Peprah, the National Communication Authority (NCA) Ghana’s Director of Licensing and Regulation, who is also advisor to the ITU BDT Director, responsible for implementing the ITU proposal, said he has been made aware of AfriNIC role as the regional internet registry (RIR) and would advise the ITU BDT
 Director during consultations and added that many of the proponents of this proposal did not know about the operations of AfriNIC. It was also noted during the panel discussion that several African countries had been allocated IPv6 numbers, so AfriNIC is not short of IP resources. The real problem for Africa and other developing countries is the uptake of these resources.
 
There were updates from different Internet stakeholders including, that on the WIMAX licensing regime
by the NCA and the different submarine fiber companies that were already in Ghana or would soon be
coming into the country.
 
The day ended with a ghNOG meeting, where issues concerning the operators were discussed and
participants who attended the Workshop were given certificates of attendance.
The workshop was made possible by the kind support of Internet Society Global, AfNOG, and NSRC who provided for books for participants.
 
Photographs from the Workshop can be found at http://ghnog2.jalbum.net
Photographs from the GhNOG 2 Meeting can be found at http://ghnogmeet.jalbum.net 
About ghNOGThe Ghana Network Operators’ Group (ghNOG) is a forum for sharing technical information amongst
technical operators of Internet services in Ghana.
 
A PDF copy of this release is attached to this mail. 
Contact:Vera Doku
Chair, Communications Committee
ISOC Ghana
E: vera.doku at gmail.comM: +233-244627994


      
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