Ghana Commits Not to Award Any More Telecoms Licenses

­Ghana's government has decided not to issue any further telecoms licenses, to protect the integrity of the industry. Citing the Minister of Communications, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu the Ghana News Agency said that the country would remain with six operators for the foreseeable future.

"Government has no intentions of adding a new telecom player to the six players in the Ghanaian market," he said at the inauguration of the refurbished Head Office building of Millicom Ghana, operators of Tigo in Accra.

The minister recalled the recently announced fiscal stability levy slapped on corporate organisations in the country, saying that within a matter of a year the tax would be removed to allow the companies to operate in a friendlier environment.

He also called on the existing operators to print their prepay scratch cards in the country, noting that some have already switched printing to the country but not all of them.

The five active operators (and market share) are: MTN (57%), Tigo (25.7%), Ghana Telecom (14.4%), Kasapa Telecom (2.8%) & Westel (2.4%). A sixth network, Glo Mobile is waiting to launch.

On the web: Ghana News Agency - The Mobile World

Posted to the site on 31st August 2009