Mr. Joshua Peprah, Director, Regulatory Administration, National Communications Authority, Ghana 

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by training, Mr Peprah has over 30 yrs of experience in the ICT industry, starting as a Design and Applications Engineer with the Semiconductor Division of Texas Instruments (TI) in Dallas, Texas, USA for 15years and later as an electronic communications regulation expert. 

With an MBA in Operations Research and Marketing and a first degree in Electrical/Electronic Engineering, he managed several Digital Logic Design projects at TI and was a member of the team that introduced the famous Digital Signal Processor (DSP) chip that has become an integral part of most Telecom and Computing Systems. 

As the Director, Regulations and Licensing (now Regulatory Administration) for the past 8 years, with the National Communications Authority (NCA) of Ghana, Mr Peprah has contributed immensely to the liberalization and rapid growth of the ICT/Telecom market in Ghana, which now boast of close to 85% penetration in total access lines (Fixed and Mobile) with several of the world class operators playing in the market. 

Mr Peprah has extensive experience in telecom standardisation through his active participation in the ITU-T system. He is currently part of the expert group working on the implementation of the WTSA-08 Resolution 76, after guiding its successful acceptance at the World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly in 2008 (‘WTSA 2008’) in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

Mr Peprah is currently the Vice Chairman for Africa Region on the Telecommunications Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) at ITU. He also led the introduction and implementation of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in Ghana, one of the most successful MNP implementation within Africa. 

Mr. Peprah served as the Chairman of the national multi-stakeholder committee established by the Government of Ghana to develop policy recommendations for the attainment of a timely, cost effective and environmentally responsible migration from analogue to digital broadcasting in Ghana. The recommendations were wholly approved by Cabinet. He is currently the Chairman of the Technical Committee of the Digital Broadcasting Migration Committee (DBMC), the body established to oversee the implementation of the television migration project in Ghana. He recently oversaw the development of comprehensive technical specifications for the tendering process for the site survey, network design and supply of a nationwide Digital Terrestrial Television Network based on the DVB-T2/MPEG-4 standard for Ghana which attracted 16 world acclaimed manufacturers, suppliers and system integrators of digital television head-end, transport and transmission systems. He also chaired the evaluation of the bids. 

Due to his in-depth experience in the ICT sector, the Ghana Government in 2009 appointed him as a Board member advising on ICT, for Ghana’s premier bank; the Ghana Commercial Bank, a position he still holds till now.