Two months after the launch of Ghana’s first 5G wholesale network, telecom operators are yet to lease capacity from the infrastructure to provide commercial 5G services, raising concerns about the project’s immediate impact.
The shared 5G infrastructure, developed by the public-private consortium Next-Gen InfraCo (NGIC), was inaugurated on November 1, 2024, as a landmark initiative to boost digital inclusivity and accelerate development. It was also meant to create a level playing field in the telecoms sector and help bridge the yawning market gap created by the way industry licenses were previously given out.
However, the anticipated rollout to consumers in Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi by December 2024 has yet to materialise. The rollout date was later shifted to January 2025. But as things stand now, that new deadline will also be missed due to a number of factors.
Former Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said in a recent TV3 interview that the government’s role in the 5G rollout was complete and it was left for the industry players to make the service available to the public.
“It’s a wholesale infrastructure; we built it. It’s now up to the telecom companies to buy capacity from it and deliver it to their subscribers. I’ve done my part. The rest is left to the telcos and the NGIC,” she stated.
The delays has sparked frustration among citizens who were promised transformative digital connectivity. During the launch event, Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful urged Ghanaians to hold service providers accountable for delays beyond December 2024.
“If you live in the initial 5G catchment areas and still cannot access 5G by December, kindly call out your network operator,” she said.
As things stand now, the telcos are yet to acquire capacity from NGIC and roll out 5G to the public. But the conclusion by the former minister that the delay is primarily due to that, is rather a simplistic one.
Techfocus24 has been checking with the various stakeholders in this exercise and it is sufficiently clear that the delay is not simply down to telcos’ failure to buy capacity and rollout 5G.
First of all NGIC has completed the primary core network and are in the process of testing the secondary core network for backup or redundancy, which is critical for the rollout of every telecoms network.
Secondly, negotiations with independent tower companies seem to have slowed down due to alleged “unreasonable and unrealistic”commercial demands by the tower companies.
Techfofus24 learnt from not one but two separate reliable sources that the independent towercos are making the following demands;
1. Long-term contracts,
2. High and unrealistic prices
3. Insisting that they get extra money for each operator that uses the network.
4. Cash up front
Indeed, there are unconfirmed suspicions that one of the independent towercos is taking an entrenched position engineered by a particular telco just to jettison universal access policy for the rollout of the 5G network. The saboteurs want the license to be auctioned for the highest bidder.
But Techfocus24 is well-informed that the NGIC is almost done with the second core network for redundancy, and alternative measures are also being put in place to eliminate any delay being caused the stance of the independent towercos.
It is important to note that when NGIC was licensed, the independent towercos became worried about whether NGIC was going to compete with them or collaborate with them in the rollout of the 5G network. The CEO of NGIC, Tenu Awoonor, in an interview, assured them that they were going to be partners and not competitors.
But the current stance of the towercos, which some stakeholders have described as “monopolistic” and “unreasonable” has compelled NGIC to look for alternatives outside of the towercos.
Techfocus24 approached the towercos to speak to the issues raised about their unreasonable demands but they declined to comment on matters of negotiation, which is fair.
