Nigeria's national carrier, Globacom has disclosed that it is not pulling out of Ghana.

Group Chief Operating Officer of the company, Mohammed Jameel at an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos, yesterday disclosed that the firm, has invested so much in its Ghanaian operations that it was not ready to leave, despite challenges encountered. He revealed that Glo will launch its operations in Ghana and ensure that every part of Ghana is covered with an excellent network. He emphasised that "we are not worried and even if it takes three months, Ghana will go live. We want to get it right and do it right first time and we will"

Globacom had in May been reported to be considering withdrawing its services from Ghana .

Ghana news agencies had reported that Globacom was considering the move due to the challenges it was facing in its bid to roll out its services across Ghana.

It was reported that there were some interests frustrating and sabotaging its planned nationwide take off plan.

Some of the challenges said to be faced by Glo include vandalisation of its equipment and encroachment on the frequency allocated to it by the National Communications Authourity NCA. It was also said to be encountering a delay in securing approval for the swift deployment of its infrastructures like base stations two years after it secured the Ghanaian license

Jameel also disclosed that the Glo 1 submarine cable will be commercially launched in August. He revealed that in the middle of August, Glo 1 will launch services first on Globacom traffic and then a week later launch the cable commercially for all Nigerians. He stated that the cable was being launched on the traffic of Glo first to ensure that everything was okay before it is launched for the benefit of all Nigerians.

He also commented on the issue of pricing in the sector and stressed that though there was pressure on telecoms operators to reduce tariffs, the cost of production in the nation is very high. He singled out the issue of multiple taxation as a problem in the industry and urged the government to address the issue not only for the benefit of the operators who are carrying a huge burden, but also for the benefit of all Nigerians. He stated that it was difficult to think of price reduction, when faced with such high cost.

He lamented that the burden of multiple taxation is being passed to the consumer." A local government council can wake up one morning and ask an operator to pay 50 million naira to get permit to lay cables and as a law abiding entity, the operator has no choice but to pay. We pay for of way, we pay to local governments, we pay to state government and this payments translate to huge costs stifling the growth of the industry" said Jameel.

He called for a single means of taxation for operators as opposed to multiple taxation to forestall the huge cost of production in the industry.