Mobile telecom giant, Vodafone, officially took over state -owned Ghana Telecom on Thursday after acquiring 70 per cent shareholding in the company in August last year for some US$ 900 million under strong opposition fro m the current government, which was then in opposition, that saw the deal as a ri p -off.

The new company was launched with a pledge that it would provide customers with the highest quality and most reliable mobile network.

The company said it had, since late last year, made “significant investments” to improve the performance and to expand the capacity of its networks.

An official statement in Accra said Vodafone had also signed a multi-million dol lar deal with Huawei Technologies to bring its 3G network services to the Ghanai a n market, giving customers access to high speed mobile internet services in the f uture.

President John Evans Atta Mills has said the agreement would be revised if the g overnment found any shady deals in the original accord.

David Venn, Chief Executive Officer of Vodafone Ghana, said: “Today’s announceme nt is the next step in a telecommunications renaissance across Ghana. Vodafone w i ll offer the most reliable and cost effective services in the Ghanaian market an d we will set the benchmark for customer satisfaction. Our customers should expec t an excellent network as the basis for these services and we are committed to de l ivering it.”

He said the company had also invested in the social fabric of Ghana, deploying c ommunity booths, supporting National Farmers day and helping the educational fun d s of a number of the traditional areas.

“I look forward to announcing similar initiatives in due course,” Mr Venn said.

The statement noted that Vodafone Ghana, originally the Post and Telecommunicati ons Department of the Civil Service, went through several transformations before

being renamed Ghana Telecom in 1996.

It was divested first to a consortium called G-Comm Limited led by Telekom Malay sia and was later managed by a Norwegian management services company known as Te l enor Management Partners (TMP).

It employs close to 3,400 Ghanaians and is a major source of employment in the c ommunications industry, providing fixed, mobile and broadband services.

Vodafone is the world's leading international mobile telecommunications company, with equity interests in 27 countries and Partner Markets in more than 40 count r ies.

As of 31 December 2008, Vodafone had approximately 289 million customers worldwi de.

Source:africanmanager