MTN Telecommunication Company has for the past five years invested more than GH¢ 324, 546.00 under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme on development projects in the Central Region.

The projects include a GH¢ 31, 000.00 ICT for the Ankaful Prisons and the construction of six -classroom -block with an office and store worth GH¢ 180.00 for the Srafa Immuna community as well as a 20- seater ICT centre.

Mrs Cynthia Lumor, Corporate Service Executive of MTN made this known during the quarterly Editors Forum in Elmina at the weekend.

The forum which was attended by more than 25 journalists educated the participants on the activities and challenges of MTN.

Mrs Lumor said MTN has also invested GH¢ 7 million on a foundation it established in the past 10 years.

Under the CSR it has been able to provide 31 projects in the education sector across the country and 16 in the health sector.

MTN has also started a pilot project in economic empowerment nationwide.

She said her outfit would continue to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product, stressing that 10 per cent of government’s income come from the telecom industry.

MTN contributes about 6.9 per cent to the income, making it the biggest tax payer in the telecom industry.

Mrs Lumor said the Telecom industry has provided about 1.5 million jobs worldwide whilst MTN has been able to provide more than 500.000 direct and indirect employment and made more than GH¢ 1.13 trillion investments globally with GH¢ 1.2 million in Ghana.

The Corporate Service Executive said despite the fact that  MTN Ghana  had a lot of subscribers  only 8.4 per cent of them had internet penetration  and described the situation as worrying because to her it was through the internet connectivity that a lot  revenue is generated.

GNA