Find Telecommunication expertise in Ghana
- Operators and competition
- Usage and infrastructure
Growth has been impressive in Ghana’s telecoms market, notably in the mobile sector where the number of lines exceeds fixed lines by a significant ratio. The mobile sector is now one of the biggest industries in the country, generating revenues of around GH1.8bn a year over the three years up to 2010. In 2009 the industry contributed GH900m out of the country’s GDP of around GH44.8bn. The sector provides employment to 1.5 million people either directly or indirectly (2012).
Ghana was among the first countries in Africa connected to the internet and to introduce ADSL broadband services. The sector continues to be highly competitive, with more than 140 licensed ISPs. However, the majority of the market is saturated by a few of these operators.
Internet penetration rates remained below 10% for a long time, largely due to the poor condition of the national fixed-line network and the high cost of connectivity. However, this has been altered in recent times with the introduction of wireless and 3G mobile broadband technologies such as iBurst, WiMAX and HSPA. Additionally, the introduction of three new international fibre links between 2010 and 2012 has ended the monopolistic pricing of international bandwidth.
The first cellular phone service was introduced to the country in 1992 by Mobitel. Since then the mobile market has developed into a vibrant sector with six competing operators, including regional leaders such as MTN, Vodafone, Millicom and Zain, which was taken over by Bharti Airtel of India in 2010. Nigeria’s Globacom started operation as the sixth mobile network in 2012, providing a further boost to the sector. Mobile penetration has now passed 90% mark, whilst 3G mobile broadband services represent the vast majority of internet connections (2012). The re-privatised national carrier Ghana Telecommunications (GT), and its mobile telephony offshoot OneTouch, became Vodafone in 2009 – a joint venture between Ghana and Vodafone UK.
The National Communications Authority regulates the communications industry in Ghana.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report reported mobile subscription rates in Ghana as 1,148 subscriptions per 1,000 of population, placing it 103rd out of 144 countries. The report also found that the country possessed 10 active fixed telephone lines per 1,000 of the population. This found it in 125th position, directly below neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire. It states that 14.1% of the population uses the internet, placing it 109th, although fixed broadband internet subscriptions stood at 0.3%, a statistic comparable to many other sub-Saharan African nations. Its international internet bandwidth per internet user was reported as 0.2kb/s.
Telecoms and Internet Service Providers organisations in Ghana | |
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Afripa Telecom Ghana |
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Communications Commision of Ghana |
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Ghana Telecom |
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Kasapa Telecom Ltd |
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Millicom Ghana Ltd |
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MTN Ghana |
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Onetouch Ltd |
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Sub-Saharan Publishers |
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Westel |
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World Education |
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