- NCA Sets Higher 5G Spectrum Price for MTN Under Market-Power Rules
Ghana’s National Communications Authority has opened applications for new spectrum licences in the 700 MHz, 2.3 GHz and 3 GHz mid-bands for mobile broadband services, including 5G, in a major reset of the country’s next-generation telecoms strategy that will require MTN Ghana to pay a 40.00% premium on selected bands because of its Significant Market Power status.
The NCA’s Request for Applications, issued on July 16, 2026, invites licensed mobile network operators, mobile virtual network operators, broadband wireless access providers, internet service providers and 100.00% Ghanaian-owned new entrants to apply for spectrum licences to establish, maintain and operate electronic communications networks for mobile broadband, including 5G.
TechFocus24 first reported that MTN Ghana would be required to buy the spectrum at a premium rate 40.00% higher than other applicants because of its Significant Market Power designation, citing the NCA’s new application framework.
The licensing round makes available 11 spectrum lots across three bands. These comprise three lots in the 700 MHz band, five lots in the 2.3 GHz band and three lots in the 3 GHz mid-band. The 700 MHz band offers 2 × 30 MHz of paired spectrum, divided into three lots of 2 × 10 MHz each; the 2.3 GHz band offers 100 MHz of contiguous TDD spectrum in five lots of 20 MHz each; while the 3 GHz mid-band offers 150 MHz in three lots of 50 MHz each.
The pricing framework places a minimum reserve price of US$36.00 million on each 700 MHz lot, US$10.00 million on each 2.3 GHz lot and US$24.00 million on each 3 GHz mid-band lot. On that basis, the total minimum value of all spectrum on offer is US$230.00 million.
But MTN will not face the same reserve pricing as other applicants in the 700 MHz and 3 GHz mid-bands. The NCA says it is statutorily obliged under the Electronic Communications Act, 2008, Act 775, to consider competition in spectrum assignment. Where an applicant has been designated as an operator with Significant Market Power, the regulator will apply an asymmetric premium to the minimum reserve price as a competition-safeguarding measure.
“At the date of this RFA, MTN Ghana is the only operator designated as holding Significant Market Power,” the NCA states in the document. The 40.00% premium applies only to MTN’s bids in the 700 MHz and 3 GHz mid-bands. This raises the price of a 700 MHz lot from US$36.00 million to US$50.40 million and the price of a 3 GHz mid-band lot from US$24.00 million to US$33.60 million.
The immediate implication is that MTN’s cost of acquiring critical 5G spectrum will be materially higher than that of non-SMP applicants. If MTN were to acquire the maximum two lots permitted in the 700 MHz band and all three lots available in the 3 GHz mid-band, its minimum payment for those five lots would be US$201.60 million, compared with a base minimum reserve price of US$144.00 million for a non-SMP applicant. The difference is US$57.60 million.
The policy logic is clear. The regulator is trying to open Ghana’s 5G market while preventing the country’s dominant telecoms operator from simply converting its existing scale into even deeper spectrum advantage. The question is whether the premium will sharpen competition without weakening investment incentives in the network most capable of delivering rapid nationwide rollout.
The NCA has also imposed lot restrictions. No single applicant may be awarded more than two lots in the 700 MHz band, a restriction intended to preserve effective competition in the low-band coverage layer. In the 2.3 GHz band, no applicant may be awarded more than three lots. Entities that already hold 2.6 GHz spectrum in Ghana are not eligible to apply for spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band, a restriction the NCA says is intended to broaden access to mid-band capacity spectrum.
That 2.3 GHz restriction is important for MTN. MTN Group disclosed that MTN Ghana paid the Ghana cedi equivalent of US$74.00 million in July 2025 for new spectrum assignment in the 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands, technology neutrality in other bands and licence extensions to 2038.
The new licensing process follows the NCA’s decision to remove the exclusivity condition in the wholesale 5G licence of Next Gen Infraco Limited. On July 15, the regulator said it had amended NGIC’s licence by removing the condition that made it the sole provider of Ghana’s wholesale 5G infrastructure, arguing that the public interest would now be better served by a competitive wholesale 5G market that promotes investment, innovation, network resilience, service quality and wider access to advanced communications services.
This marks a significant policy pivot. Ghana’s earlier 5G model leaned toward a shared wholesale infrastructure arrangement. The new framework opens the door to a more competitive licensing structure, while still preserving regulatory safeguards around market dominance, coverage obligations and wholesale access.
The NCA says each spectrum licence will run for 15 years. Applicants must submit sealed applications by 5:00 p.m. on August 6, 2026, accompanied by a non-refundable application fee of GH¢300,000.00 per band applied for.
The rollout obligations are demanding. Each licensee must provide outdoor mobile broadband coverage to at least 70.00% of Ghana’s population by March 6, 2027, including coverage of Greater Accra, Greater Kumasi, all 16 regional capitals, all district capitals and additional localities needed to meet the national population threshold.
SMP licensees face additional obligations. By the second anniversary of the licence, they must provide outdoor mobile broadband coverage to at least 40.00% of the rural population and cover all major road and rail corridors connecting regional capitals. By the third anniversary, the rural coverage obligation rises to 60.00%, while all towns and villages with populations of 5,000 or more must be covered. By the fifth anniversary, rural coverage must reach at least 80.00%.
The regulator has also specified user-experienced speed obligations. Licensees must deliver at least 7 Mbps from operational launch to the third anniversary, 25 Mbps from the third to the seventh anniversary, and 50 Mbps from the seventh anniversary onward, with operators encouraged to move toward 100 Mbps in high-value coverage areas.
For consumers, the success of this licensing round will be judged not by the number of licences awarded but by whether 5G and enhanced mobile broadband services become wider, faster, more reliable and more affordable. For operators, the challenge will be balancing steep spectrum costs, rollout obligations and capital expenditure requirements in a market where data demand is rising but price sensitivity remains high.
For the NCA, the test is regulatory execution. It must attract investment, protect competition, prevent spectrum hoarding and ensure that licence winners actually build networks that serve both urban and rural Ghana.
The 40.00% premium on MTN is therefore more than a pricing adjustment. It is a signal that Ghana’s 5G transition will be shaped by a delicate balance between rewarding investment capacity and restraining market dominance.
