The nationwide shared 4G/5G network in Ghana is set to be launched on November 1, 2024, the Minister of Communication and Digitalization has said.
She disclosed this during an interview on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo Show with Kwami Sefa Kayi earlier this month.
Government had earlier announced that the 5G service will be rolled out by the end of this year.
The Minister noted that the necessary structures have been put in place for the service to commence.
Background
Earlier this year, government, by policy, awarded a license to a consortium of seven companies to roll out a nationwide shared 4G/5G infrastructure. The seven were Ascend Digital (Ghana), K-NET (Ghana), Nokia (Findland),Tech Mahindra (India), Radisys (India) plus two of the three telcos in Ghana – AT Ghana and Telecel Ghana.
The seven constituted what is called the Next Generation Infrastructure Company (NGIC), with government as a minority shareholder with no financial contribution.
This policy decision is contrary to the norm, where industry licenses were usually auctioned on the basis of “the highest bidder”, which has left the industry skewed in favour of one player, with all others either completely dead or struggling to survive.
The government therefore set out to bridge the yawning gap in the industry through the licensing of one wholesale entity – NGIC – on very flexible terms to enable the rollout of the network expeditiously and also make access nationwide and very affordable to all.
Work done so far
This far, NGIC has built the digital transport backbone under the World Bank E-Transform project to support the 4G/5G nationwide network. The backbone include fibre and microwave networks which were completed way back in April 2024.
Weeks ago, the data centres were also built with equipment from Nokia and Radisys, and they are now being tested ahead of the November 1 launch.
In terms of the roles of the partners, Techfocus24 gathered that each partner, including the telcos, contributed cash and or equipment such as towers, fibre, microwave and others, which will determine the weight of their shareholding in the nationwide infrastructure.
NGIC has also engaged with the two independent tower companies in Ghana – ATC Ghana and Helios Towers to integrate their co-location towers into the nationwide 4G/5G network.
So will telcos go live with 5G from November 1?
Techfocus24 gathered that so far work is underway to ensure that by November 1, 2024, AT Ghana and Telecel Ghana will go live with 5G, but there might be a few days beyond the launch date to complete the integration before they can actually go live.
Another very reliable source confirmed that “The actual date for 5G to go live in Ghana will be sometime mid-November. A small number of sites will be ceremonially turned on at that point with a small number of SIMs and devices, then uptake will grow gradually.”
The Minister has said that MTN Ghana will eventually join the 5G shared infrastructure initiative, and MTN has also said that there are ongoing engagements with the Minister on the way forward.
