The Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has stated that MTN Ghana is very keen not to let their customers be left out of 5G services, so she is confident that the telecoms market leader will soon sign up to the shared 5G network.
Speaking to journalists after the official launch of 5G network in Ghana on Friday, the Minister said all the telcos (including MTN) have expressed keen interest in signing on to the shared network, adding that so far, AT Ghana has already signed, and Telecel is expected to sign next week.
Indeed, AT Ghana has since made a post on their official X (formerly Twitter) handle stating that they are 5G ready.
Regarding MTN, the Minister said “we are in an extended negotiations with MTN to see how soon they can also sign on and they are keen to not let their customers be left behind.”
Meanwhile, MTN Ghana mounted a stand at the venue of the 5G launch and at least three of its ExCom members – the CEO, Stephen Blewett, Chief Marketing Officer, Noel Kojo Ganson, and the Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Executive, Adwoa Wiafe were there with some of their lieutenants.
The history behind the Minister’s comment is that MTN was initially not keen on government’s decision to rollout 5G in Ghana via a shared nationwide network built by a single wholesaler called NextGen Infraco, comprising of five entities – Ascend Digital and K-NET from Ghana, Tech Mahindra and Radisys from India, and Nokia from Finland.
Techfocus24 gathered that MTN would have preferred that the spectrum was auctioned on highest bidder basis, as usual, or there would have been a number of wholesalers instead of just one. MTN was also said to have asked for 30% shares in the shared infrastructure arrangement, but had been turned down.
MTN has therefore steered clear of the shared network arrangement, while negotiating with government for a possible separate regime, something that persons close to this matter have said that the Minister was not interested in.
From the Minister’s latest statement, government expects MTN to soon sign on to the shared 5G network, which has been launched today.
The Minister said the launch indicates that the 5G network is ready and there are 5G active sites across the country, so if by December any service provider is not providing its customers with 5G services, the customers should call the service provider out.
According to the Minister, beyond the telcos, internet service providers (ISPs), smaller companies that provide bespoke solutions for various sectors and even individuals who have innovations that can be driven by 5G are all keen to sign on and deliver their services.
She said the 5G network offers service providers, particularly the smaller businesses, a nationwide reach, which means they do not have to spend money rollout their own networks, but rather on the services and content they provide.
This, she said, offers smaller players the opportunity to roll out their unique products and services with the same quality as the the bigger players and their uniqueness will then give them a fighting chance in the face of fierce competition.
She said the decision to go on the wholesale route was born out of Ghana’s own challenges with how spectrum had been auctioned in the past and how that has led to the creation of one significantly huge player, while every other player in the market – telcos and ISPs – are either dead or are gasping for breath to survive.
Digitech Hub at the University of Ghana
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful also said, that on the back of the 5G network, government has established a digital technology hub at the University of Ghana to allow young people to develop Ghana-specific use cases for 5G, which will be relevant for the masses and drive the uptake of 5G faster and wider.
“We expect the youth to develop use cases for every aspect of our lives – from sanitation, transportation, education, gaming, health, agriculture, financial services, commerce, trading and more.
“Hitherto, these young innovators who are developing solutions to our challenges would have had to go cup in hand begging existing telcos to see how they can get their digital solutions to market – but now they have a platform on which they can roll out these solutions seamlessly through all the other networks for the benefit of Ghanaians,” she said.
The Minister said the digital technology hub at the University of Ghana, which is being built for the purpose is 80% complete and the students are very excited about it. She added that the university is also providing land for the construction of an innovation centre where industry players can test their own solutions in the campus-based sandbox before taking them to market.
She said Nokia, Tech Mahindra and Radisys have also given assurances to build innovation centres in Accra to provide young people even more opportunities to try their hands at innovations.
