Mahama Ayariga, the Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Information and Communication, has officially submitted a Right to Information (RTI) request demanding that the Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful provides details of the Next-Generation Infrastructure Company (NGIC) shared 5G infrastructure deal.
The Bawku Central MP’s request comes amid rising calls for transparency in government contracts, especially those that could impact competition and service delivery in critical industries like telecommunications.
Ayariga is demanding the full contractual agreement between the government and NGIC, the terms of the deal, and an understanding of any financial commitments the state may have undertaken.
“You [Ursula Owusu-Ekuful] also mentioned at the briefing that “I am pleased to inform you that this landmark partnership was signed in Mumbai, India, on Monday, 27th May 2024, the culmination of a process which started over 2 years ago.”
“Kindly furnish me with a copy of the landmark partnership agreement for our review and understanding of the exact commitments of each of the partners since Ghanaians interested in the telecommunications sector cannot be groping in the dark,” a part of Ayariga’s request read in part.
Mahama Ayariga believes agreements of this nature should be made available for proper scrutiny and not just be announced via public briefing.
Background
Ursula Owusu-Ekuful announced in March 2024 that Ghana was to get a nationwide shared 4G and 5G network before year end. This network is to be built by NGIC, a licensed special purpose vehicle (SPV) comprising of five entities – Ascend Digital, K-NET, Radisys, Nokia, and Tech Mahindra, and supported by all telcos Ghana, starting with AT and Telecel.
Unlike the award of previous licenses, which had always been by auction and upfront payment, NGIC was awarded the license without auction and on payment by installment basis over a 10-year period. The reason, according to the minister was to allow the company to spend its resources to provide the network nationwide and make it available for all Ghanaians quickly, then they can pay the licensing fee of over $100 million in installments.
The shared network policy was also to ensure that the entire industry took off together with 5G to bridge the huge industry gap created with the way licenses had been auctioned in the past on the basis of the highest bidder.
In the shared infrastructure arrangement, government holds 7.5% golden shares without any financial commitment, while the telcos expected to join the fray are jointly excepted to hold a total of 25%, with the remaining 67.5% in the hands of the other five partners.
The contributions of the various shareholders to the network is the form of cash and or infrastructure, which will be valued to determine how many shares each entity is entitled to.
Next-Gen Infraco is a not a retail Internet service provider, so telcos, ISPs and various individuals and organizations will be expected to acquire various capacities from the company and provide services to Ghanaians. The network is due to launch soon.
Since the deal was made public, it has come under various forms of criticism, like many other government policies did. But that has not stopped the progress of work in terms of the network rollout. Techfocus24 can confirm that the 5G shared network will go like in Ghana before the close of the year.
