The private sector spearheads investment in telecom and Internet backbone

Kamara Fofana, Accra, Ghana
February March 19, 2024

G hana takes advantage of its coastal line to connect with continental submarine cables. Onshore, a vast network of towers, masts and wireless installations are parts of the domestic telecom backbone. The country uses various approaches to attract investors. These include public, private partnership (PPP), public shareholding and licensing. Ghana has attracted investments from multinational companies, such as Google and MTN. The country has reached and surpassed benchmark of 10,000 km of underground fiber optic cable.

Submarine cable networks and services

Five submarine cables land on the coast of Ghana, providing over 340 Gbps capacity.

The two oldest submarine cables are:
♦ The South Atlantic 3, and
♦ The West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/WASC).

A consortium of African, American, Asian, and European shareholders owned the SAT-3/WASC. This infrastructure links Portugal, Spain, and South Africa, through West Africa. The cable is 16,000 kilometers long and has a capacity of 120 Gbps. Ghana Telecommunications Company Ltd overseas the activities of SAT-3/WASC.

The three other submarine cables are MainOne, ACE, and Glo.

♦ Main One (part of Equinix) has 7,000 kilometers submarine network from Portugal to Lagos. The company has landing stations in Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d'Ivoire.

♦ ETG Integrated Services Ltd. (part of Dolphin) is the operator of the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE). This cable is 17,000 kilometers long and connects 24 countries in Africa and Europe.

♦ Private company, Globacom owns and operates 9,800 km submarine cable (Glo-1). Glo-1 has landing stations in major coastal cities in West Africa.

Four mobile operators continue to invest in terrestrial backbone. At the end of 2022, the total capacity of submarine cable landing in Ghana was 3,478 Gbps. This represents an increase 19.72 percent from 2021. In 2022, the total capacity also increased from 1,105.29 Gbps to 1,509.91 Gbps. This represented a 36.61 percent increase in the usage capacity.

MTN Ghana has a 54.39 percent share of the market followed by ETG (Dolphin) with 24.78 percent and Main One (16.18 percent). Telecel provided 3.27 percent of total capacity available and GLO-1, 1.38 percent¹. At the end of 2022, the total capacity of submarine cable in Ghana increase by 19.72 percent.

Domestic backbone

Towers and Masts

Ghana wants to build a robust domestic backbone to connect the country². The National Communications Authority (NCA) is important in this ambition. The NCA issues tower infrastructure licenses. Owners of licenses gain the right to build and maintain and lease these towers.

In 2022, tower Companies owned and managed 5,310 towers. This represents a 3.45 percent increase from 2021. Over a five-year period, the compound average growth rate is 3.86 percent from 4,564 towers in 2018 to 5,310 towers in 2022.

Ghana has three types of telecom towers. The first are green field towers, which have the largest share of the market, with 91.83 percent. Rooftop towers rank second with 7.42 percent. The last types are indoor network or mobile sites with 0.75 percent of the market. The Greater Accra region is home to 1,340 towers and the least number of towers are in North-East Region (66 towers).

Fiber optic cable

Ghana completed the first terrestrial fiber optic infrastructure in 2007. Today, the country has reached and exceeded 10,000 kilometers of fiber optic cable. Ghana also has over 2 million aerial and terrestrial fiber optic cable. The State has invested in this infrastructure by modernizing existing networks and taking advantage of new technology.

In 2018, DANIDA provided US$38 million for the construction of fiber optic cable³. This 800 km infrastructure is a vital component of the backbone in the Eastern region. It links the North and South of Ghana to the international submarine cables. The country plans to build a parallel and similar network in the “Western Corridor”. The state has also invested in two mobile phone companies: AirtelTigo and Telecel (Vodafone).

Private companies are boosting the capacity of the internet backbone. Example include CSquared, Spectrum Fiber, and Main One. CSquared⁴ is a joint venture between Google, Mitsui Japan, Convergence Partners (South Africa) and the World Bank (IFC). The four partners invested US$100 million in the project. Spectrum Fiber Ltd is a public, private partnership (PPP) between Broadspectrum Limited and the Government of Ghana through the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF)⁵.

Other investments come from mobile phone operators. Four licensed mobile operators are also investing in the domestic backbone. They are AirtelTigo, Glo, Telecel, and MTN.

Connecting users

Two institutions work together to develop connectivity between operators and users. Since the introduction of mobile telephony in Ghana, the National Communications Authority (NCA) has licensed four mobile telecom companies. These companies (AirtelTigo, Glo, MTN, and Telecel) provide a constellation of telecom services and products to corporate and indivividual customers. They provide voice, data, mobile money, FinTech services, and enterprise solutions. The NCA has also licensed five Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) service providers. They include Broadband Home, Blu Communications, Busy Internet, Surfline, and Telesol. These private companies use (through paid lease) domestic infrastructure for service delivery. The delivery channels and standards they use include GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), Broadband (mobile and fixed) and fiber optic cables.

Another connector is the GIFEC (Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications). This public fund works with MTN, Ericsson, and Huawei to close rural connectivity gaps. The goal is to provide cost-effective internet, voice, and data to remote areas.

The NCA and GIFEC rely on Ghana's five data centers to maintain and optimize connectivity. Five different private companies run Ghana's five data centers. They are: Main One, K-Net Ghana, Internet Solutions Ghana and ONIX. The National Information Technology Agency runs Ghana's fifth and oldest data center.

Data centers

Analysts predict that international companies may continue to choose Ghana as a favored location for data centers. According to Kuwait-based technology company, Agility Ghana provides low cost of electricity, links to submarine cables and an international airport.

Ghana is home to the only Tier IV data center in West Africa. The country also hosts Tier III data centers, including one, owned by the government, that is among the largest in West Africa.

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