Leading independent tower company in the country, American Tower Corporation (ATC) Ghana has prevailed in an international arbitration against the state-owned Airtel Ghana over unpaid fees for telecommunications tower services, according to sources close to the matter.
This brings a formal closure to a contractual dispute that has shadowed Ghana’s telecoms sector for several years.
The case was heard before the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) International Court of Arbitration, one of the world’s foremost forums for resolving commercial disputes.
The outcome arrives at a delicate moment as AT Ghana, the telecom brand affiliated to Airtel Ghana is in the middle of a structural and financial restructuring that has drawn in regulators, the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, and now a prospective foreign investor.
Debt accumulated over several years
The arbitration is the legal endpoint of a debt that accumulated over several years. AirtelTigo, formed in 2017 through the merger of Bharti Airtel’s and Millicom’s Ghanaian operations, relied on ATC Ghana’s tower infrastructure for its network coverage across the country.
Under industry-standard tower-sharing arrangements, mobile operators pay tower companies, known as towercos, recurring fees for access to masts, power supply, and related services.
Payments to ATC fell into arrears, and by the time current Communications Minister, Samuel Nartey George addressed Parliament in March 2025, the figure owed to ATC alone had reached GH¢1.5 billion, a portion of a total debt load on AT Ghana’s books that the minister put at over GH¢3.5 billion, equivalent to approximately US$225 million at prevailing exchange rates.
“Those who managed the AirtelTigo process are enemies of our state,” the Minister told journalists at the time, directing his criticism at the administration that finalised the government’s acquisition of AirtelTigo in November 2021 for a nominal US$1, absorbing its liabilities in full.
Industry sources have since indicated that the actual ATC debt may have exceeded GH¢2 billion by the time of the crisis.
Why the lawsuit
But what actually triggered the ATC lawsuit was the fact that, in November 2024, before the previous government left power, they established a fresh entity called People’s Network (PPL Net) and transferred all the assets and staff of AT Ghana to that company in a bid to save jobs and protect the company from complete collapse.
The move was also to free AT Ghana of all liabilities and make it attractive for potential investors. In that arrangement, government of Ghana still owned Airtel Ghana, which also owned PPL Net and PPL run AT Ghana. But the liabilities of AT Ghana was left with Airtel Ghana to pay.
ATC Ghana therefore filed the ICC suit in pursuit of their money because all their dealings had been with AirtelTigo and not PPL Net. In fact, post the ICC lawsuit, ATC also filed another suit in Ghana and secured an injunction in January 2025, preventing AT Ghana from transferring any asset to PPL Net pending the ICC arbitration. But the injunction was of no effect because the transfer of assets to PPL Net was done in November 2024.
In the midst of all these back and forth, ATC Ghana offered to forgive all accumulated interest on the AT Ghana debt and even slash the principal by about another 80%. Upon all that juicy offer from ATC, which reduced the bill to about US$20 million, still none of it was paid to ATC Ghana, and there is still no record of any payment till date.
Disconnections and emergency roaming
Faced with non-payment, ATC Ghana began disconnecting power to AT Ghana’s radio access network sites on September 1, 2025, triggering an immediate risk of service collapse across a subscriber base that then stood at over three million.
The National Communications Authority (NCA) and the Communications Ministry intervened, arranging emergency national roaming between AT Ghana and Telecel Ghana to maintain service continuity.
The government also appointed KPMG to conduct a 60-day financial review of AT Ghana’s operations, with a mandate to assess options including fresh investment or a merger with Telecel (formerly Vodafone). The minister subsequently described the forced migration of customers onto Telecel’s network as a force majeure, effectively, circumstances beyond ordinary control.
Restructuring in progress
A potential path forward has emerged as Canadian infrastructure and commodity trading company Rektron Group signed a memorandum of understanding with the government in May 2025 to acquire a 60 percent majority stake in AT Ghana, in partnership with local firm Afritel Ghana.
Rektron offered an initial US$150 million for the majority shares in AT Ghana, and indicated a planned investment of up to US$1 billion over five years, subject to regulatory approval and due diligence.
But government’s decision to go with the roaming and or “absorption” arrangement with Telecel Ghana, has thrown the spanner in the works of Rektron in their pursuit of AT Ghana. Moreover, initial assessment of Rektron’s offer by KPMG is said to have indicated that Rektron did not show satisfactory proof of financial muscle and zero experience in telecoms.
The ICC arbitration outcome adds a fresh dimension to that process. Any prospective investor will need to account for the enforceability of ATC’s award, which Ghanaian courts are expected to give effect to under the country’s obligations as a signatory to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.
Legal observers note that enforcement, not just the award itself will be the measure of institutional credibility. How swiftly and completely Ghanaian courts act is likely to be watched closely by infrastructure investors evaluating the country’s dispute-resolution environment, they insist.
Ghana’s Digital Agenda 2030 commits the country to expanding digital infrastructure and attracting private capital into the sector.
