Techfocus24 can confirm that the National Communications Authority (NCA) has finally granted AT Ghana a provisional license to rollout a 4G network on the back of a limited technology neutrality regime using its original spectrum lots.
AT Ghana already has a 10×2 lot in the 900MHz band, 18×2 lot in the 1800MHz band and 20×2 lot in the 2100Mhz band. These lots were originally limited to 2G and 3G. But with under the limited technology neutrality regime, the company is now allowed to re-farm those same spectra for the rollout of 4G technology.
This officially brings 11 years of 4G drought at AT Ghana to an end. In 2015, MTN Ghana was granted a 4G license and that gave it a big edge in the mobile broadband market for years before Vodafone Ghana (now Telecel Ghana) entered the space in March 2019 with far less spectrum than MTN had.
For several years, it has been a two-horse race between MTN and Telecel, with MTN staying far ahead of competition, as all three locally owned companies which were granted BWA licenses to rollout 4G ahead of the telcos gradually grinded to a collapse because MTN had an edge over them in the mobile broadband space.
AT Ghana (then AirtelTigo) was never able to get into the 4G space specifically because its previous owners, Bharti Airtel and Millicom International failed to invest in the network to ready it for 4G. Indeed, in 2025, the current sector minister, Sam George, told journalists that the AT Ghana network had reached ‘end of life status’ and could not support 4G even if they were given spectrum for free.
Government Intervention
But a few months back, government, which now owns 100% shared in Airtel Ghana, the holding company of PPL Net Limited, the company that operates AT Ghana, granted a US$10 million relief to the company to enable it to ready the network for 4G, among other things.
At his most recent appearance on the government’s Accountability Series, the minister identified lack of spectrum since 2023 and the absence of a board as the main factors in the way of AT Ghana’s progress.
He therefore announced that a new board had been installed for both Airtel Ghana and PPL Net, adding that NCA had been directed to grant the company a provisional license, while GIFEC (Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication) had also been instructed to grant the company access to part of its core network infrastructure to facilitate its operations.
4G testing ongoing
So, now that the board is in place, access to the GIFEC core network has been granted, and the provisional license has also been given, AT Ghana is now building a 4G network and is even testing same on a limited number of sites across the country.
Customers who find themselves in the catchment area of the selected sites can testify of intermittently seeing an LTE signal on their phones, provided the phone is 4G compliant.
Meanwhile, some administrative requirement the minister mentioned in his presentation during the Accountability Series have also been cleared, setting the tone for the company to go ahead with the deployment of a 4G network.
5G era
But all of this is coming at a time when the two other traditional telecom operators, MTN Ghana and Telecel Ghana have been granted spectrum for the rollout of 5G networks nationwide soon. The target is to cover at least 70% of the country with 5G by March 6, 2027 when Ghana turns 70. That is practically six month away.
Indeed, AT Ghana was granted a connecting entity license to enable it connect to the only 5G wholesaler, NGIC. The licensed has recently be signed and delivered to the company, which means it can also connect to NGIC and rollout 5G soon.
Meanwhile, till date, customers of AT Ghana continue to roam heavily on the Telecel Ghana network because the leading tower company in the country, ATC Ghana cut AT Ghana a year ago. But with the company readying to rollout its own 4G network, that special arrangement may be phased out gradually, tower by tower.
