ICT / E-commerce

Ghana is attracting the attention of the global telecommunications community as the low access rates and market potentials of the country are increasingly becoming clear.

Internet
Current internet capacity for the country is 120 gigabytes per second.  A new fibre optic cable from GLO, the telecom giant, has just arrived, adding a connection capacity of 620 gigabytes.  Ghana is preparing to take advantage of a myriad of national and international tele-data services, and to expand into much more global communication. The internet penetration and use will increase enormously, partly through the increasing smartphone use.

Mobile Phone

The current mobile penetration rate in Ghana is 67 percent or about 12 million users. The main telecom network operators are MTN, Vodafone, GLO, Tigo and Airtel. It is estimated that  there are about 30 million mobile phones in the country ( 2014).

Ghana’s mobile phone penetration rate has risen to 59.7 per cent after the voice subscriber base climbed to over 31 million (2015). The dramatic rise in the number of people with access to mobile phones has been attributed to the recent push telecommunication companies to expand their network coverage.

Infrastructure Needs

In order for the country to take full advantage of the huge influx of new bandwidth, there is a need to build more telecom and data infrastructure. The national communication backbone has a single fiber network ring which spans from north to south around the country. Ghana needs state-of-the-art managed data-centers across its regions, in order to facilitate business activities and support mission critical data and telecommunication applications.  It is now critical for the country to embrace business process automation, and move away from manual, paper-based systems

Opportunities

The infrastructure needs present investment opportunities in the following areas:

  • Last mile connectivity – to bring connectivity to the end user
  • Education Communication Network and Government Private Network
  • Ghana Ports & Harbors Communication Network
  • Rural and Metropolitan Area Networks
  • Justice Department and Police Communication Networks
  • Regional Data Centers – to host business and mission critical applications, e.g., National Health Service, government agency intranets, air traffic control systems, medical life support systems, etc.
  • National Health Administration and Payroll Services
  • Automation of manual tax collection services, e.g. toll booths, public car parks, taxi ranks, etc.
  • Driver Vehicle License Administration Service
  • Lands Registry Commission administration service, Judiciary Management and Administration Service
  • Intranets and E-commerce (e.g. mobile banking services and APPs)
  • Value-Added Telecommunication Services, IPTV and VoIP Services
  • Calling cards and Integrated mobile Top-up service
  • Wholesale International Call Termination and DID services
  • Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) and Hosted Application Services
  • Data and Telecom Services