Kumasi — WORKERS AT the Ashanti Regional Headquarters of Ghana Telecom (GT), say the nation stands the chance to benefit favourably from the 70% sale of the company, to the UK-based international telecommunications giant, Vodafone.

According to them, GT for the past ten years had been unable to pay dividends to the Government of Ghana, because of operational loses, due, in part, to the heavy financial muscles competitors like MTN, TIGO and Glomobile, bring to bear on quality service and network expansion.

Declaring their support for the Vodafone deal, during a demonstration in Kumasi, the workers stated that GT was on the verge of collapse, and would therefore need some capital injection to bring it on track, describing as "poor and bad" the company's service delivery to customers.

The Assistant Manager of the company's Care for 'U' Department, Mr. Collins Aning Adjei Asante, told The Chronicle that the livelihood of 4,200 workers of the company was being threatened by its present state, following the borrowing of overdrafts every month to pay them.

According to him, the retrenchment of workers, after the Vodafone deal, was preferable than losing their jobs in two years, to going home with nothing, indicating that some former workers of GT had still not received their entitlements, since they retired four years ago.

He argued that a GT partnership with Vodafone would place the company on the same pedestal with MTN and TIGO, who are multinational in character, and continue to use their bigger strength to negotiate cheaper prices for the purchase of equipment and material, against GT on international transactions, and competition for the same market locally.

Mr. Asante believed also that the Vodafone deal would revive GT, for customers to enjoy the best of service delivery and other innovative products, while giving the assurance that the company staff would upgrade their skills, and knowledge in the area of new technologies and IT.

Mr. Obeng Twumasi, Senior Security Officer, who attacked the opposing stance by the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) on the sale of GT, described it as politicking with mischievous intentions.

According to him, members of the CJA were talking from an uninformed position, having jumped the core issue and were imputing wrong motives for the 70% sale of GT to Vodafone.

"My brother, go and ask how many of them use GT Onetouch mobile network, and you will realize they are being hypocritical. Who do they expect to use GT network for the company to get money to improve services, and expand the network coverage? They are only playing politics with the sale," he submitted.

A technician, Mr. John Annor Ofori, also joined the chorus and sang the same song by his co-workers, saying the survival of GT, which is recording a decline in revenue and market share, rests on the Vodafone deal.