Ataso residents cry over poor mobile network coverage

Residents of the Ataso community in the Atwima Mponua District are sounding an urgent alarm over poor mobile network coverage, a severe infrastructural gap that has pushed the community to the fringes of Ghana’s digital economy.

Daily life, economic activities, and access to emergency services are being severely hampered, forcing residents to adopt extreme and physically demanding measures just to communicate.

With no reliable signal strength at ground level, community members are compelled to trek to distant farms or climb tall trees and uncompleted buildings in search of a single bar of reception.

The poor connectivity has crippled financial and commercial activities, undermining the government’s drive for digital inclusion.

Ghana’s mobile penetration rate is estimated at over 130 per cent nationally, yet communities like Ataso remain cut off, limiting economic growth and access to essential services.

The frustration among locals is palpable, with many feeling neglected by telecommunication companies operating across the country.

One resident, speaking to the media, lamented the hardship in conducting basic business transactions.

“The network is our major problem and it’s affecting us a lot. It’s difficult transacting business in this village. We’re pleading with the authorities to come to our aid,” the resident said.

The inability to rely on Mobile Money (MoMo) services, a lifeline for Ghana’s informal sector which sees billions of cedis transacted daily, has forced business owners and farmers in Ataso to rely solely on cash. This exposes them to travel risks and financial losses.

Another resident described the extreme lengths they go to in order to make calls.

“We climb trees before we’re able to make phone calls, or we climb an uncompleted storey building,” the resident said.

This practice not only endangers lives but also delays communication during health or security emergencies, where minutes can make the difference between life and death.

The distressed community is appealing to telecommunication companies to extend their network infrastructure to cover the Ataso area and calling on the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation to intervene.

They argue that bridging the digital divide is not a luxury but a necessity for development and security.

Stakeholders are hopeful that the government, through the National Communications Authority (NCA), will collaborate with mobile operators to install a base transmission station to provide stable, high-speed network connectivity and finally connect Ataso to the rest of the country.