CEO of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh has hinted that hopefully the telecoms market leader will launch 5G in Ghana next year.
He was speaking in at a special MTN@25 Business Executive Breakfast Series under the theme: Conversations with MTN Ghana – 25 Years of Brightening Lives and Beyond.
The CEO noted that MTN has for the past 25 years been at the forefront of technology innovation in Ghana, having been the first to bring GSM, 2G, 3G, 4G, Mobile Money and “hopefully 5G by next year.”
Selorm Adadevoh noted that MTN is not only interested in being first to innovate but also going on to ensure that the new innovation delivers value to its stakeholders comprising of customers, businesses, and the economy as a whole.
He gave the assurance that currently, MTN’s focus on becoming a complete Digital Operator by 2023 and also pursuing its Agenda 2025 strategy is to position the network as a service (NaaS) to drive the digital Ghana agenda.
In keeping with the value delivery for all stakeholders, Selorm Adadevoh said MTN plans to rollout 4G at all of its base stations in Accra by the close of this year, adding that every base station nationwide would have 4G by close of next year.
“We understand that risk taking is key to our commitment to national development and so we continue to take the risk ahead of any profit motives – and that is why we invested in 3G and 4G even before the devices to drive uptake were available. That was the same reason we invested in Mobile Money for six years without profit,” he said.
Touching on the recent declaration of MTN as a significant market power and the proposed implementation of antitrust measures to curtail its growth, he noted that such a move, for a country like Ghana would have been counterproductive.
He explained that the infrastructure needed to support the digital Ghana agenda is still lacking, and so any move to curtail a player that has the muscle to deliver that infrastructure would have been a big “economic mistake.”
Selorm Adadevoh noted that, during the pandemic year, for instance, MTN earmarked some $150 million for network infrastructure, but by the close of the year, they had spent almost $200 million.
Indeed, at the launch of the MTN@25, Minister of Communications and Digitalization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful admitted that MTN had always taken the risk to invest while other players looked on, and urged MTN to take advantage of its SMP position to support the entire ecosystem through the NaaS strategy.
MTN would continue to take the risks in the interest of the country as it has always done, to ensure that the digital Ghana agenda becomes a reality across the country.
