Telecoms & IT

Ghana’s telecommunications industry is mostly driven by activity in the mobile segment. But the business also has a high level of competition that benefits from a liberalised market regime and a robust regulatory framework. The sector is crowded, with six operators in the lower to-middle-income country of 25m people, but this has not stopped operators from rolling out new infrastructure and services. While operators are confronted with cost and operational pressures, Ghana’s scope for growth in data and value-added services is high, and a clear and robust regulatory regime ensures an even playing field for the nation’s six operators. Meanwhile, the coming on-stream of five submarine cables has added considerable broadband capacity and allowed the operators to expand their networks and range of services. Indeed, access over the past half decade has dramatically improved with the landing of undersea fibre links and the introduction of wireless and 3G – and more recently 4G – technologies.

This chapter contains interviews with Paarock VanPercy, Director-General, National Communication Authority (NCA); and Neal Hansch, Managing Director, Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) Incubator.