Ningo-Prampram MP and NDC policy lead on communications and digitalization, Samuel Dzata George has stated that the NDC’s 2020 and 2024 Manifestos fully supports the idea of a shared telecoms infrastructure, particularly for 5G connectivity.
He was speaking with Techfocus24 at the official launch of the first 5G shared network in Ghana.
In his words “The NDC in our 2020 Manifesto had promised to do a shared network infrastructure. It was called the Ghana Broadband Network, and the current administration [NPP] has done the same thing. So, on a principle policy basis I cannot say I have a problem with it.
“In fact if you take the NDC Manifestos of 2020 and 2024, it’s in there that we are going to do a shared network infrastructure, which is what the current administration has done.”
Also Read: Shared 5G Infrastructure policy in line with NDC’s 2020 Manifesto promises
The 5G shared network infrastructure was established by NextGen Infraco, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) comprising of two local and three foreign entities, namely Ascend Digital (Ghana), K-NET (Ghana), Nokia (Finland, Tech Mahindra (India) and Radisys (India). Government is a partners with 7% golden shares, without making a financial commitments.
NextGen Infraco got the license for a 10-year exclusive period for US$100 million plus, payable in instalments over the 10-year licensing period.
The establishment and licensing of NextGen Infraco as the sole wholesaler for 4G and 5G nationwide network triggered a huge public debate across industry players, civil society, individual analysts, journalists and politicians.
Government’s Position
Government had explained that the reason for licensing a single wholesaler for the purpose was to cure the yawning market imbalance created by the existing policy of awarding licenses via spectrum auction to the highest bidders. That policy has created one industry monster, while all other players are either dead or are gasping for breath.
Again, the government made the point that subsidizing the price of the spectrum, and spreading the payment over a 10-year period was to free up capex for the operator to invest in building the nationwide network faster to make it easily available and affordable to all industry players, and by extension to all Ghanaians.
The other wisdom is spreading the payment is to allow subsequent governments to have access to the money for national development, instead of all the money going into the hands of the current government.
The Critics
But some analyst held that in government’s attempt to tame the existing monster, it may end up creating another monster in the single wholesaler, so a better option would have been to have a number of wholesalers instead of just a single one.
Others, particularly the Minority in Parliament, were also of the view that Ghana’s economy is in a dire state and needs the money from the sale of 5G spectrum to the highest bidder as a booster. They estimated that Ghana could have sold the spectrum for up to $500 million.
Dinosaur Expectations
But Sam George, a very vocal and well-vexed member of the Minority in Parliament on the subject matter, stated that “Where the world has gotten to, the whole idea of looking at spectrum as a cash cow is outmoded and outdated.”
“It is only dinosaurs who are going to expect to make US$500 from spectrum sale in one go,” he added.
He however noted that the process of establishing the SPV as the single wholesaler can be debated because it should have been subjected to parliamentary scrutiny and should have gone for public tender instead of the sole sourcing route the current administration went.
Beside that, he said the shared network infrastructure is definitely the way to go, and the fact that government spread the payment for spectrum over a period to free up capex to allow improvements in the network rollout is the way to go, and it is standard industry practice.
He insisted that freeing up capex for the licensee to rollout the network, gives government the opportunity to set KPI (key performance indicators) for the operator to make the deployment even faster across the country.
