Over the years, successive communications sector ministers from both the NPP and NDC sides, have almost always announced new policy decisions, purportedly to fix challenges they inherited from their predecessors in the telecoms sector. At the announcement of each of those policy decisions, we were always made to believe it was the best for the industry and particularly for consumers. But once a new government takes over, we are told a totally different story to justify why another new and contrary policy decision is necessary.
It has become like an unending vicious cycle; and sometimes one gets the impression that industry players know that the cycle will continue once there is a change of government, so they also find ways to play it to their advantage. Progressively, these policy decisions have created a one-directional industry. So, one wonders who really benefits, is it really the consumer, the politician and his/her cronies, or the industry player(s) the decision favours at that material moment.
Let’s get into it;
Just days ago, the Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Sam ‘Dzata’ George announced a new policy decision that government has approved technology neutrality (tech neutrality) for MTN Ghana to enable them to deploy existing spectrum bands more flexibly to enhance network performance. Additionally, he said the National Communications Authority (NCA) has been authorized to provide more spectrum resources to both MTN and Telecel Ghana as part of measures to enable them improve on their quality of service.
In making that announcement, the Minister acknowledged widespread public frustration over the deteriorating quality of service by telcos. So, at a first glance, it is very clear that the only motivation for this policy decision by the minister was purely consumer interest and nothing more. In fact that was the reason the minister gave.
What is Tech Neutrality
Now for those who don’t understand what technology neutrality is, simply put, it is a system that allows industry players to use all of their existing spectrum to deploy any technology of their choice, be it 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G. In Ghana the regulator used to limit particular spectrum lots for the deployment of specific technologies. So, for instance, spectrum for 2G could not be used to deploy 3G. Telcos had to always buy fresh spectrum for the deployment of higher technologies. But tech neutrality means they can now re-farm redundant portions of their existing spectrum, clean them up and use them to deploy higher technology and or improve their existing quality of service.
You would notice that the Minister did not say that all telcos have been granted tech neutrality. He said only MTN. This is because Telecel Ghana and AT Ghana were both granted tech neutrality almost two years ago as part of regulatory measures to give them some head start over MTN, when MTN was declared a significant market power (SMP) in June 2020. NCA had to give the other telcos some advantages to up their game and catch up with MTN. Indeed, there were several other measures put in place to supposedly curtail MTN so that the two other telcos can have some room to improve and catch up. You can read about them in my previous articles.
But here is the hard truth – upon all the advantages given to the two smaller telcos to improve and catch up, they have still not been able to get close to MTN in anyway. In fact, between the time MTN was declared SMP and now that they have been granted tech neutrality and more spectrum, MTN has grown in leaps and bounds, in terms of voice and data market share, while the two other telcos, which were supposed to catch up, have rather fallen even further behind.
Lack of Investment by Smaller Telcos
The only difference is their FAILURE TO INVEST and leverage the advantages presented to them. The SMP measures crafted to help the two telcos, were not automatically going to turn things around for them. They needed to invest and improve their network quality and also innovate in their offerings to attract and keep consumers. No consumer was going to automatically jump ship from MTN and join AT or Telecel just for the mere fact that MTN was named SMP and the other two were granted tech neutrality and all the other advantages. Those advantages must reflect in consumer experience, and that requires significant and intentional investment and innovation.
Poor Quality of Service
It was to be expected that since the two other telcos failed to take advantage of the leverage given to them to better their quality of service, they have failed to attract more consumers. Contrarily, MTN, which was supposed to be losing numbers, rather kept investing heavily in their network, and growing market share regularly. So, over time, the MTN network has become congested and quality of service on MTN has also deteriorated considerably. But because MTN is the only SMP, the previous government refused to allow MTN room to improve its service quality, in the hope that the two others will take advantage of that and offer Ghanaians something better, but no.
New Policy Decision: 5G Shared Network
So, rather than giving MTN the resource to improve, the previous government rather took a different policy decision in 2024, to license a special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Next Generation Infrastructure Company (NGIC) to build and operate a universal access (UA) platform for 4G and 5G exclusively for 10 years. The plan is to create a shared 4G/5G network that all telcos and even other entities can access and provide 4G and 5G network services nationwide. This would mean that all the telcos, including MTN will have access to spectrum from the UA platform to improve network quality across the country.
As of today, the UA has built their primary and secondary core networks, a Network Operations Centre (NOC), as well as data centres, all of which have been duly inspected by NCA and cleared as satisfactory.
BUT….
The UA network is still not live yet. It is expected to go live in June this year, most likely. So far, only about 16 to 22 cell sites are said to be up, something which some industry stakeholders think is woefully inadequate for the rollout of a nationwide 5G network. Currently, the two smaller telcos, AT Ghana and Telecel Ghana are in the process of integrating with NGIC, but MTN is yet to make a firm decision to join. In fact, the narrative out there is that MTN does not want to join because they want either a standalone 5G network for themselves, or a different arrangement that brings all telcos and government together in partnership without the involvement of other entities like we have now, or even a multiplex arrangement where there will be more than just one universal access network for 5G.
But that will be a subject for another write up soon. So, let’s move on from that for now.
Consumer interest vs Protecting Smaller Telcos
As things stand now, denying MTN the opportunity to re-farm their existing spectrum to deploy better technology and denying them more spectrum to improve on network performance means that close to 80% of telecoms service consumers in Ghana are suffering poor quality of service because the network on which they are, MTN, is getting congested but the previous government’s policy decision did not allow MTN the opportunity to improve their quality of service. The previous government’s reason is chief was that MTN has become too big and is threatening to become a monopoly, which is true.
But, take note that successive governments, including both the NDC and NPP, took turns in contributing both passively and actively to creating the industry monster called MTN. What is even worse is that, even after naming MTN an SMP and instituting measures to correct the mistakes of the past, the previous government allowed MTN to acquire more 4G spectrum from at least three failed local entities, and then asked MTN not to deploy all of the spectrum at a go. They asked MTN to stagger the deployment of the spectrum in order not to expose the government for giving more power to the same MTN it pretends to curtail.
In effect, consumers on all three networks continued to suffer very poor quality of service because MTN was not being allowed room to fix their challenges, while the two other telcos, which have been given the room to fix theirs, were also not investing to fix theirs. So, in the midst of all these policy decisions and regulatory interventions, the consumer continued to suffer. Even, worse, MTN, which has about 80% market share, was stopped from selling data for cheap, so consumers had to pay more for less data on MTN in the midst of sloppy quality of service across board.
In the light of the foregoing, Sam George’s decision to grant MTN Ghana tech neutrality and more spectrum is in order, because someone must seek the interest of the consumer, and that is exactly what that policy decision has done, or at least, that is what it purports to do. In fact, the Minister also warned that the NCA will begin strict monitoring within three months of the spectrum allocation, and there will be sanctions for failure to improve service quality. That again, is clearly in the consumer’s interest. What is left is for data prices to go down. The Minister promised affordable data packages on all public holidays. That’s great, but Ghanaians want affordable data for all days, not just on holidays.
Concerns Raised
But industry watchers are also concerned about this “consumer-centric” policy decision for a number of reasons.
A a glance, the whole thing looks like a mere lion and elephant fight (Dzata vs Elephant), which could eventually be more detrimental to the grass than even when two elephants fight. As stated in the opening paragraph, these unending vicious cycle of policy decisions seem to be the tool every new minister uses to complete undo whatever his or her predecessor did, and then entrench him or herself as the boss running the show.
Let’s call Sam George Dzata and call Ursula Owusu Ekuful the Elephant.
First of all, per the Elephant’s policy decision, MTN Ghana is still the only SMP in the market because of its overwhelming market dominance, controlling almost 80% voice and over 80% data market share. All regulatory interventions to bridge that yawning market gap has failed. Now Dzata’s new policy decision, which gives MTN more spectrum and allows them to re-farm existing spectrum to roll out higher technology only threatens to widen the market gap even further.
Again, Dzata’s new policy decision makes complete nonsense of the entire SMP policy implemented in June 2020 by the Elephant, which Dzata recently criticized as a measure that was only punitive of MTN but failed to correct the market imbalance. Once SMP is gone, the threat of collapse hanging around the necks of the two smaller telcos and other ISPs is even deepened further. In effect, Dzata has further strengthened MTN and weakened all other industry players, including even NGIC, the sole operator of the shared 4G/5G network.
The other concern is that, as stated above, the Elephant gave NGIC a 10-year exclusive license to build and operate a universal access network for the rollout of 4G and 5G nationwide. The two smaller telcos are currently in the process of connecting with NGIC but MTN is not. So, this new policy decision by Dzata seems to break the back of NGIC, because it gives MTN leverage to improve network quality without necessarily joining the NGIC platform.
From my understanding though, by law, neither MTN nor any telco can take advantage of tech neutrality and use existing spectrum to roll out 5G without working with NGIC. This is because NGIC’s license is for 10 years and it is EXCLUSIVE, ending 2035. So, until that period elapses, everything 5G network in Ghana must be done through NGIC. But the MTN Ghana CEO has stated publicly that whereas MTN would like to have a 5G network, they don’t necessarily need it now because, out of their over 28 million customers, only one million use 5G compatible devices, which makes it difficult for them to make a business case for 5G now.
Finally the very essence of rolling out SMP regulatory interventions is to prevent the telecoms market from sliding into a monopoly, which has the potentially of eroding any intended value for the consumer. Once the market slides into a monopoly, the consumer’s power of choice, which the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) insists on, is gone. Consumers will be stack with whatever quality of service and prices the monopoly offers. That cannot be good.
But Dzata also hinted that government will soon announce a bold plan to rescue AT Ghana, which is suffocating under a debt of over $200 million, plus about GHS20 million adding on every month. No mention was made of Telecel Ghana in that plan, but this writer is reliably informed that whatever rescue plan the government is crafting for AT Ghana may include Telecel Ghana as well, but it definitely does not including curtailing MTN Ghana.
So, to answer the question in the headline, if this “save AT Ghana/Telecel Ghana” rescue mission works well, Dzata’s new policy decision could stand the test of time. But if it fails like the several others before it, then we are surely going to witness a total breakdown of the consumers power of choice, because a monopoly will become inevitable; and to think that the monopoly is a private sector entity with no state interest could be bad for the consumer.
Stay tuned for the another detailed write up about the implications of this policy for the rollout of 5G in Ghana going forward.
