Broadband penetration – Ghana ranks highest but …

Gradually, the broadband penetration is fast growing but there is still room to do more, particularly in the deprived and rural areas. Charles Benoni Okine writes on the how and the country’s internet penetration spread wider.

An international telecoms expert, Mr Magnus Rehle, holds the view that government and telecommunications regulator in the country hold the key to stimulate faster growth of broadband penetration in the country, particularly to the rural and deprived areas.

Consequently, he suggested that, this can be done by encouraging shared fiber and towers and also with lower license fees in rural areas.

“In some countries the government has given economic stimulation in rural areas and in others small cities have created city fiber rings that could be used by local businesses but also by mobile operators", Mr Rehle, the Managing Partner of Greenwich Consulting, an international management consulting for telecommunications, media and utilities told the Graphic Business in an exclusive interview in Accra.

His suggestions come at a time when Ghana has been ranked as the country with the highest mobile broadband penetration in Africa, according to a recent International Telecommunications Union (ITU) report.

According to the “Measuring Information Society Report” released in the last quarter of 2012, mobile broadband penetration surged from seven per cent in 2010 to 23 per cent in 2011.

Although this has been challenged by some experts as too drastic, there are others who claim that the rapid growth in the use of smartphones is a major contributing factor.

The ITU Secretary General, Dr. Hamadoun I. Toure, on his part also argues that; “This report is impartial and can be used as an annual industry benchmark for technology development.”

According to the ITU report, Ghana’s mobile broadband prices are also relatively low.

At 14 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) per person, it is four and half times cheaper than the African average which stands at 64 per cent of GNI per person.

The report said 14 per cent of Ghanaians were internet users, up from 10 per cent in 2010. 

The ITU report is the most comprehensive statistical and analytical document on the shape of ICT markets worldwide.

The ITU report said among African countries, Ghana’s telecommunications sector had the highest investment to revenue ratio in 2009 and 2010, which shows that operators invested relatively heavily in fixed assets in order to maintain and enhance networks. 

Fixed broadband penetration has remained marginal, however.

The report also includes an ICT Development Index (IDI) which combines 11 indicators into a single measure that can be used as a benchmarking tool to track progress in ICT development over time.

(The indicators include ICT access, use, skills, mobile cellular subscriptions and basic literacy rates, households with a computer, Internet users, fixed and mobile broadband Internet subscriptions, and basic literacy rates.)

Nevertheless, Ghana remains in the lower half of the index at 117^th out of 155 countries.  This is an improvement by four places from 2010. 

No other African country recorded such an improvement for internet access as well as usage. 

South Korea is ranked top in the ICT Development Index.  All countries in the top 30 are high-income, underlining the strong link between income and ICT progress.

In spite of this progress, Mr Rehle is of the view that more can be done to make a much more positive impact on society and reiterated the role of regulator and the government to make that happen.

Government effort

Work on the $38 million Eastern Corridor fibre-optic broadband backbone infrastructure project has begun in Ho in the Volta Region.

The 600-kilometre stretch project which started in the last quarter of the last year is being undertaken by Alcatel-Lucent and will last 12 months.

It will stretch to Bawku in the Upper East Region. It will also be linked to other parts of the country to make it possible for the provision of network access to all districts to facilitate the delivery of government service to the people.

Unlike many of such projects in the country where deep trenches are dug, sometimes through major road networks, the route for this project will be dug using sophisticated equipment that will seldom show on the surface but will have the fibre optic laid.

The project comes complete with the provision of data centers and data services and managed services component to ensure data security on the entire networks.

There is already in existence, the Western Corridor fiber optic project of which the telecoms companies are benefiting from.

There is some effort by the government to penetrate the rural areas where the telecom companies have refused to invest in.

For instance, in the last quarter of 2012, the Minister of Communications, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, simultaneously inaugurated communication masts in 10 rural communities of the country to enable people living there have full access to telecommunications services.

The masts, which are powered by solar panels is to ensure constant power supply to the masts and to avoid interruptions in service.

The areas are Botoku in the Volta Region; Kutukrom, Sewam and Kordjor in the Western Region; Adiokor, Baano in the Brong Ahafo Region; Tugu in the Northern Region; Aboaboso in the Ashanti Region and Dwerebiase and Amankwakrom in the Eastern Region.

With this, more than 19,000 people who were hitherto, not connected to telecommunications services can no make and receive voice calls, send and receive data as well as use the internet effectively at high speeds.

The Way Forward

"Ghana has the biggest change in value of all countries and it’s really exciting to see how this can help the overall economy”, Mr Rehle said.

We have seen a clear correlation between GDP growth and telco growth in other countries and Sweden where I come from; who is number two in the world on ICT has clearly managed to create both big international companies like Ericsson and TeliaSonera but also smaller firms creating Apps for phones where we are leading worldwide. The same thing can happen to Ghana from a Pan African perspective.

Presently, there are a number of private companies that have landed fibre optic cables in the country.

Unfortunately, these are sitting in the capital cities and few other ‘lucrative’ parts of the country.

If the players in the industry, government and the regulator will collaborate more and not work in isolation, they will be able to cover the entire country and the benefits will be for all.