Ghana has three MNOs, with MTN dominating the market at over 75% of the share, which is raising concern from the regulator and ICT ministry who argue it is creating competition issues. Radisys (a part of Jio), owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, is expanding into Ghana with a new Next-Gen Infrastructure Company (NGIC) providing 5G broadband services to MNOs and ISPs, possessing the only 5G license in the country.
Vodafone has sold a 70% majority stake in Vodafone Ghana to Telecel Group and is expanding its 4G footprint as part of a major expansion program including 2,000 4G sites, filling in white spots and densifying existing networks. Government-owned AT (AirtelTigo) signed a joint-partnership with Hannam Investments to invest in building up the MNOs 4G network.
New legislation is due to be introduced to push localisation of the telecom sector, promoting the utilisation of domestically produced products, services and labour while reducing dependency on international consultants and contractors seen by the Minister of ICT as unhealthy, particularly with large foreign subcontractors which have won most local contracts.
The largest share of Ghana’s towers sit with American Tower, with Helios Towers owning just over 1,000 sites. There are also two local towercos, African Towers and Rainbow, as well as rural specialist AMN. The ministry of communications is also understood to own under 500 rural and strategic sites directly.
The MNO has announced the expansion of its national roaming agreement with MTN after a successful pilot in April 2022 which will now extend to nationwide coverage.
MTN is investing US$1bn in network infrastructure by 2025, with plans to deploy 4G on around 1,000 new sites by the end of 2023 as well as expanding its fibre network to increase capacity, reaching 2G, 3G and 4G coverage levels of 99.5% and 99.3%. Vodacom is also expanding its 4G footprint to 300 new sites, as well as planning the launch of 4G+.
Despite its current economic woes Ghana is one of Western Africa’s more developed states and MTN has already upgraded over 1,000 sites in preparation for 5G rollout under its Ambition 2025. However, operators are still waiting on licences and spectrum from the NCA.
Local towerco African Towers has deployed 300 organic multi-tenant sides; 50 being inbuilding solutions, 40-50 rooftop sites and 200 macro towers. The towerco grew out of deploying IBS for airports and is still focusing on the inbuilding DAS market and along transport corridors.
African Tower is also deploying solar and exploring grid connections to reduce their carbon footprint. AMN and NuRAN are both deploying rural sites on a network-as-a-service model, with small local towerco Rainbow also moving into the rural space and working on an O-RAN platform.
Helios Tower has been struggling with energy price fluctuations. While 95% of sites are on-grid with 22 hours of uptime per day, high grid energy prices has given on-site solar deployment a strong business case, and Helios Towers are looking to deploy 4-500 solar sites in 2023 to reduce grid dependency.
