Telecom giant MTN announce $1bn investment in infrastructure and information systems
Telecom giant MTN has announced a $1bn investment in infrastructure and information systems for the next 5 years.
MTN has noted that, they are in the advanced stage of an agreement to implement a national roaming plan in partnership with other operators in the country as well as with the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC), which is part of government’s project to extend communications to most rural communities.
The company added that the $1bn investment is to ensure that it is able to share its infrastructure with other telecommunication operators in Ghana and vice versa.
Adding that, this will increase the efficiency of infrastructure spend, expand quality telecom coverage or reach and accelerate further development and long-term viability in the telecoms industry.
‘’This initiative will enable MTN to share its infrastructure with other telecommunication operators in Ghana and vice versa, in order to increase the efficiency of infrastructure spend, expand quality telecom coverage or reach and accelerate further development and long-term viability in the telecoms industry.
“To ensure the success of these commitments, we project an investment of over US$1.05 billion in infrastructure and information systems over five years, starting from 2021, to support the vision of a digital Ghana,” said the CEO of MTN, Selorm Adadevoh.
According to Mr Adadevoh, the company has engaged in bilateral discussions with other operators as well as the regulator to implement the national roaming programme in the country.
‘’We have made significant progress in our discussions with the regulator to implement national roaming programme in the country. To this end, we have engaged in bilateral discussions with other operators, are advanced in the terms of agreement with at least one operator and have completed technical tests for standard national roaming. More advanced configurations are also underway’’
‘’We are also finalizing the agreement in the coming weeks with GIFEC to deliver on government’s rural telephony project.
“We will update the market on the implementation of the remaining directives as discussions with the NCA progress,’’ the company noted.
In 2021, MTN indicated that it successfully implemented its investment plans with a total capital expenditure (capex) of GHC1.4bn which is going to support infrastructure modernization expansion of 4G population coverage to over 90.6% (+18.9pp) and improvements to quality of service.
‘’We successfully implemented our investment plans, with a total CAPEX of GHS1,485 million, supporting infrastructure modernization, expansion of 4G population coverage to over 90.6% (+18.9pp) and improvements to quality of service. To achieve this, we rolled out 131 2G, 120 3G and 1,446 4G sites and modernized 2,121 existing 4G sites enhancing capacity and improved customer experience. We extended 4G network and data services to additional 1.7 million people, deepening the digital agenda of Ghana,” it added.
