The Telecel Group, operators of Telecel Ghana, have announced a landmark $200 million strategic partnership with Huawei Ghana, formalized through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed during HUAWEI CONNECT 2026 in Shanghai.
The MOU was signed on behalf of Telecel Group by Eleanor Azar, Group Chief of Staff, and on behalf of Huawei by Chad Wei, Deputy MD of Huawei Ghana. It was witnessed by the Chairman of Telecel Group, Nicolas Bourg, and the Regional Vice President of Huawei, Rex Lei, reflecting the strategic importance of the partnership to both organizations.
This comes just weeks after Telecel Ghana secured three lots of a 2.3 GHz spectrum to roll out 5G in Ghana.
A statement from Telecel Group noted that the MOU represents a significant multi-fold escalation from the previous $70 million agreement signed in Shenzhen last November.
It is a three-year commitment which signals Telecel Group’s soaring commercial confidence and establishes a clear, structured roadmap to aggressively modernize Ghana’s digital landscape and elevate end-to-end customer experience.
Under the three-year phased framework, Telecel Group will inject substantial capital into network expansion, mobile broadband densification, and intelligent digital infrastructure across Ghana.
The structured timeline, according to the statement, guarantees sustained investment discipline and delivery momentum, ensuring that Telecel’s rapidly growing subscriber and enterprise base benefit from superior throughput and future-proof services.
Commenting on the scaled alliance, Mohammad Ghaddar, Chief Operating Officer of Telecel Ghana, emphasized the strategic inflection point, saying “Ghana remains a high-growth, foundational pillar in Telecel Group’s pan-African ambitions. Scaling our strategic engagement with Huawei from an initial $70 million framework to this ambitious $200 million, three-year program reflects our immense confidence in our market trajectory and long-term vision.”
Huawei Ghana, on their part, reiterated their solid commitment to facilitating Telecel Group’s expansion:
“Huawei is honored to upgrade its strategic partnership with Telecel Group during this period of dynamic operational growth. This $200 million agreement underscores our mutual conviction in the boundless potential of Ghana’s digital economy. Leveraging our world-class technologies and proven local deployment capabilities, Huawei Ghana will fully support Telecel’s clear-cut, three-year roadmap, delivering a robust and intelligent connectivity fabric that powers Telecel’s continuous business success,” the company said.
The statement said that this high-value, multi-year agreement reinforces Telecel Group’s solid balance sheet momentum, operational foresight, and relentless pursuit of excellence as it continues to drive digital inclusion and economic transformation across Africa.
Background
In 2022, when the Telecel Group was gunning for Vodafone Ghana’s 70% shares in Ghana Telecoms, it was widely reported that the Group assured Ghanaians that it had the financial muscle to invest at least US$500 million in Ghana within three years. Indeed, government of Ghana initially blocked the deal because they said Telecel lacked the financial muscle and technical capability to handle a telecoms operations the size of Vodafone Ghana.
But later, the industry regulator, National Communications Authority (NCA) told Ghanaians that Telecel had provided further and better particulars to prove its capacity and financial muscle to acquire and effectively run the company. So, in February 2023, the NCA approved Telecel’s takeover of Vodafone’s shares, and they launched officially in March 2024.
Judging from the time the deal was approved (February 2023), three years is already past, but the last time the Communications Minister, Sam George reported on Telecel’s investments in Ghana, about a month ago, he said the company had invested GHS1.4 billion since coming into Ghana. This is just about US$120 million, which is not close to the US$500 promised three years ago.
Indeed, the Minority in Parliament had earlier raised questions about whether the Telecel Group (not Telecel Ghana) was living up to its promise to invest US$500 million in the company. Telecel Ghana responded and said they had already invested over US$240 million at the time, which is higher than what the minister reported, based on information Telecel provided to government.
Meanwhile, some industry experts think the performance of the network does not reflect that level of investment the company announced.
A US$200 million investment into network modernization, particular as the company gears up to roll out 5G, therefore comes as welcoming news to customers who have been waiting to see the magic that usually comes with such acquisitions by new operators.
It would be expected that the regulator will monitor this promised investment and ensure it is delivered fully for the benefit of customers, as the country prepares to rollout 5G nationwide in just months.
