Leave 4G licensing to local companies- ICT Chamber to NCA

The call follows an announcement by the Director General of the National Communications Authority, William Tevie that the 4G license has been opened up to both local and foreign companies.

Earlier the 4G license was granted to only local indigenous companies. However, with current challenges with expansion, the NCA decided to open the license up for other companies with the capacity to expand.

In 2012 the NCA awarded the Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) Licenses in the 2600MHz spectrum band exclusively Surfline Communications, Blu Telecoms and Goldkey Telecoms. Despite massive investment in infrastructure by these companies, they have had problems scaling and expanding to other parts of the country. The third company Goldkey Telecoms are yet to start operations at all.

However, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana ICT Chamber, Paul Adom Otchere insists granting the licence to foreign companies will ultimately drive prices down.

" A local consortium will be able to raise the needed 35 million dollars that will ensure that Ghanaians own that spectrum, so that MTN will buy capacity in that spectrum, Vodafone will also buy capacity from that spectrum. If that were to happen today, it is most likely that MTN will roll out quicker but Vodafone will have the capacity to roll out if they want, and Surfline will have same, but the supplier of the spectrum will be a Ghanaian consortium." he said.

Paul Adom Otchere added that giving local companies the opportunity to own the spectrum will be in the best interest of the country, and will be an opportunity for the development of a local telecom industry.

" That spectrum must not go to a South African country to own. Because in South Africa, the criteria is that , according to black empowerment you must have 90 percent black South African ownership. Why can't we do same in Ghana?" Paul Adom Otchere asked.

Meanwhile, The National Communication Reporters, a civil society organisation has applauded the National Communications Authority for the decision to open up 4G licensing to foreign companies.

According to them, access to 4G Internet cannot suffer on the need for local content empowerment.

"we hold the position that the greater majority of Ghanaians can no longer be denied immediate access to affordable 4G services."

The statement said, “It is in this light that NCR believes that the NCA, and for that matter the government, could not have taken a better decision than to open up the auction of the 800MHz spectrum to give all telcos in the country the opportunity to access it and improve on their services.”

"It is our understanding that the 800MHz spectrum was originally prioritized by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) for television broadcasting, but the ITU has now re-prioritized it for telecoms as part of the global digital migration," the statement said.

It said the NCR was therefore glad when the NCA announced it will from December 3 to 8, 2015, auction a pair of 2x10MHz spectrum blocks within the 800MHz band for improved 3G and 4G telecoms service.

According to the statement, Mobile communication is fast moving to IP (internet protocol) based globally and that is largely driven by mobile broadband technologies, the best of which is now 4G technology, which offers 10 times the data speeds 3G offers and therefore gives users greater experience than 3G does.

It said the new technologies also promise the rollout of innovative services such as mobile health, mobile education, mobile agriculture and several others that will benefit the greater majority of Ghanaians.

Data uptake in Ghana is growing very fast. This is confirmed by NCA's Mobile Data Subscription Report which shows that 3G data connections have crossed the 60 per cent mark. Indeed other industry reports show data consumption has grown by over 250 per cent within the last 11 months alone, and by 10,000 per cent between 2011 and now.

Justification

On the basis of the foregoing, NCR is convinced that Ghanaians are hungry for data and cannot wait for the best data technology for much better experience.

"We have taken note of some concerns raised by the BWA license holders, but we believe that their position denies Ghanaians a quick and affordable access to 4G, which is not a policy any government should pursue," it said.

The statement said “NCR fully acknowledges the need for local content, but believes strongly that local content is not necessarily about ownership but more about participation in the value chain of the resource in question”.

"We notice with regret that out of six multinational telcos which command over 30 million mobile subscriptions in Ghana, only MTN, which has about 50 per cent market share has put in a bid for the new license," it said,

The statement expressed the hope that the other big players in the industry will find innovative ways of gaining access to the appropriate spectrum so that they could give the remaining 50 per cent plus of Ghanaian mobile users access to 4G services.