Telcos asked to invest more in infrastructure

In recent times, quality of service on the various telecom networks has become a major issue. While government recognizes cable cuts as one of the reasons, it wants the telcos to also invest. Charles Benoni Okine reports.

The Minister of Communications, Dr Edward Omane-Boamah, has asked the various players in the telecommunications sector in the country to invest more in infrastructure expansion across the country.

The move, according to him is to ensure that their systems and infrastructure are able to match the accelerated subscriber base increase in the country.

The minister made the call when he paid separate visits to Vodafone, MTN and Airtel to ascertain at first hand, some of the challenge that the telecos were facing as far as service delivery was concerned.

Presently, there is growing concern about the level of cable cuts in the country which the telcos hold on to as the main reason for the fluctuating quality of service their customers are experiencing.

According to the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications the total official count for cable cuts for 2012 alone has went up to 1,605, which is more than triple the total number recorded cuts in 2011. 

Records kept by operators show that 75 per cent of these cuts are caused during road constructions while the remaining is due to theft because of the copper used for the cables.

In January this year alone, one network operator was said to have reported some 85 cable cuts which costs more than GHC 17,000 to repair a cut.

Some of the cables are simply vandalised or destroyed during illegal mining activities or by bush fires.

Much as the minister admitted to the challenges the cable cuts caused to the quality of service, there was the still the need for the telcos to increase their infrastructure to be able to withstand the increasing subscriber numbers in the country.

Rising subscriber numbers

In the March this year alone, figures from the National Communications Authority (NCA) indicated that the total number of mobile subscriptions recorded stood at 26,464,964 from 26,324,702 posted in the previous month.

This represents an increase of 0.5 percent during the period and 1.3 percent when compared to the same period of the previous year.

Of the total number of subscribers, MTN has 12,024,068 subscribers, representing a growth of 0.7 per cent in March this year as compared to the previous month.

From 5,614,411 data subscribers in January, MTN closed the month of March with 5,819,634. This represents 65.42 per cent of the market share. 

Vodafone, increased its subscription to 5,609,122 in March from 5,551,139 in February, representing a 1.04 percent growth.

The company’s subscriber numbers for mobile data rose from 511,298 in January, 523,938 in February and 590,386 for the month of March, this year.

Airtel’s mobile voice subscription also closed at 3,384,749 at the end of March.

Its subscriber base for mobile data also went up in March to 867,386 subscribers from 484,374 in January.

Tigo also recorded a  3,676,457 subscriber base in March while its mobile data subscriber base also stood at 1,288,496 in March, representing 14.48 per cent of total market share for mobile data.

Glo subscription for mobile voice decreased stood at 1,607,907 at the end of the period under review.

Its subscription base for mobile data for March this year also stood at 280,077 in March, representing only 3.15 per cent of the market.

Expresso’s mobile voice subscription also stood at 163,661.

In the area of data, Expresso’s mobile data subscriptions remained flat at 49,270 in March, representing 0.55 per cent having recorded same figure in January and February, this year.

Dr Omane-Boamah said the nature of the increase calls for expansion since that was the only way to prevent interruptions in service to aggravate the already challenging situation.

He said the government on its part was providing the enabling environment for the telcos to provide the needed quality of service to their subscribers in the area of data services for instance.

He made reference to the construction of 37 million Euro fibre optic cables from Ho to Bawku dubbed the eastern corridor loop which was expected to service the businesses and individuals and the various assemblies along that route.