Vodafone permitted by the NCA to run 4G services on Surfline
A white label agreement between Vodafone Ghana and Surfline Communications, allowing Vodafone to run 4G services on the latter’s 2600MHz spectrum has been approved by the National Communications Authority (NCA).
The approval of the agreement by the NCA comes five years after the two companies applied for the white label partnership which was however, not granted by the NCA on the basis that there was no regulatory framework for that kind of partnership.
Vodafone is a mainstream telecom operator and Surfline is a broadband wireless access (BWA) operator, and the terms of their respective licenses are different, hence a partnership between the two from the regulator’s point of view was difficult.
For one, Surfline’s license require at least 70 per cent local ownership, while per Vodafone ownership structure, 70 per cent of the company is in foreign hands.
Again, at the time of the partnership request, Vodafone was not a player in the 4G space because it was unable to buy any of the 2x10MHz lot in the 800MHz spectrum band auctioned in 2015 for $67.5 million.
Also, market leader MTN Ghana was the only telco that was able to buy the 4G spectrum at that price, and they raised concerns that Vodafone’s proposed partnership with Surfline was an attempt by the telco to enter the 4G market via the backdoor.
While MTN agreed that the 800MHz spectrum was too expensive, at the time, it argued that allowing any mainstream telco into the 4G space via a relatively far less expensive channel, was not fair to MTN.
Somewhere 2018-2019, MTN also fully acquired a 2x15MHz lot in the 2600MHz spectrum band from another BWA operator, Goldkey, enabling it to even extend its 4G footprints further, while all the other telcos remained completely out of that space.
Again, MTN argued that the only condition under which any other telco should be allowed into the space was for them to either acquire their own license or fully acquire spectrum from any of the BWAs, and not a mere partnership.
But eventually, NCA opened up another auction in the 800MHz spectrum band, excluding MTN from the auction; and Vodafone emerged a winner of one 2x5MHz lot in that band for a stated US$30 million, which is far below the capacity MTN has, but enabled Vodafone to enter the 4G space.
The agreement approved by the NCA, implies that one party can produce a product or service where the other party can brand and market it. With that said, Vodafone’s Smart Surf routers for instance can now be powered by Surfline’s spectrum.
With this new partnership with Surfline, Vodafone now has, in addition to its 2x5MHz in the 800MHz band, access to an extra 2x15MHz in the 2600MHz spectrum band to roll out more 4G LTE products and services.
