About 37.09 per cent of businesses in the country accept or use a digital payment system, with those in the agricultural sector having the lowest rate of adoption or usage, according to a report released by Retail Financial Distribution (ReFinD), a research entity, in Accra yesterday.
Also, the adoption of a digital payment platform is largely by the service sector – 38.4 per cent, industry 34.9 per cent and agriculture sector – 22.4 per cent.
Among industries in the formal and the informal sectors, the report indicated that 56.7 per cent make up the businesses that have adopted a digital payment; while 35.2 per cent constituted the informal sector.
The report, which is the first of its kind, was disseminated at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana.
It further indicated that the adoption and usage of digital payments included all non-cash payments such as personal mobile money, merchant payments, QR Code, point of sale (POS) device, card payments, platforms and mobile or internet banking.
The report was generated in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) through a nationwide census of businesses in a 2024 Integrated Business Establishment Survey (IBES).
Sensitisation
In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Director of ISSER, Professor Peter Quartey, emphasised the need for extensive education on financial inclusion and the use of digital payment.
He explained that inadequate or lack of knowledge accounted for the non-adoption of digital platforms by most businesses.
“There are a number of reasons why adoption is low. One is the uncertainty in the business environment.
“There is also the cost element and taxation and a few other constraints limiting the ability to adopt digital payment.
“Overall, I think it’s one of the surest means of including the unbanked in financial services. I must say that although cash is still leading, we have made progress,” he said.
Prof. Quartey also mentioned impediments like the electronic transaction tax – E-levy, which he said had also affected the adoption of the digital payment, saying “if we had not implemented e-levy, the story would have been different”.
Significance
A Lead Researcher at ReFinD, Professor Francis Annan, said the report provided the country with a baseline of how the country could conceivably advance with respect to financial inclusion and adoption of digital payment.
He said although there were lot of barriers to cross, the financial sector and businesses must take the needed step to tackle head-on those barriers to increase financial inclusion performance of firms.
Prof. Annan encouraged firms to embrace new technologies and invest in minimising fraud as “fraud is such a very classic barrier.
Again, that requires a lot of engagement from regulators, commercial providers like MTN and other fintechs to think really hard about how to build a more resilient financial system”.
The GSMA lauded continued progress of mobile money adoption and use across the globe, stating milestones of 2 billion registered accounts and half a billion monthly active users were surpassed during 2024.
In its State of Industry Report on Mobile Money 2025, the organisation highlighted it took 18 years from launch in 2001 to achieve 1 billion accounts and 250 million monthly active users, but just five years to double these figures.
The total number of accounts in 2024 were up 14 per cent year-on-year to 2.1 billion and monthly active users 11 per cent to 514 million.
Around 108 billion transactions worth a total of almost $1.7 trillion were processed in 2024, a 20 per cent rise in payment volume and 16 per cent in value.
Use of mobile money services are reported as having a positive impact on GDP in countries where they are available.
Regionally, sub-Saharan Africa continued to lead the way as the most active area, with growth driven by new registered accounts and rising monthly activity in East and West Africa.
Elsewhere, the GSMA highlighted “notable strides” in East Asia-Pacific, which booked the second fastest growth rate for monthly active accounts.
While mobile money initially focused on in-store payments, utilities, remittance and airtime purchases, the research highlighted many providers are evolving their range to adjacent services.
Some have even become full financial services platforms.
Examples of products beyond payments being provided include credit, savings accounts and insurance.
As of June 2024, the GSMA found credit was the most common additional service, offered by 44 per cent of providers.
Barriers
Although outlining continued positive strides for mobile money in 2024, the GSMA noted barriers to further adoption.
In the 12 countries it assessed, eight were reported as exhibiting a gender gap in uptake, with “little improvement from 2023”.
Limited awareness and low digital financial literacy were listed as significant factors here.
GSMA director general Vivek Badrinath highlighted mobile money had “emerged as a powerful driver of financial inclusion and economic growth”, adding “its continued success depends on supportive regulatory environments that promote innovation, accessibility and help unlock the full socio-economic potential”.
“To ensure mobile money remains accessible, affordable, and safe, it is vital for governments and regulators to work with financial service providers to support financial literacy programs, empowering underserved populations and opening new opportunities for financial decision-making.”
The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Mr Sam George, has announced key interventions aimed at improving the quality of telecommunications services across the country, amid rising complaints from consumers over poor network performance.
Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, the Minister acknowledged widespread public frustration over the deteriorating quality of service by mobile network operators.
“I have noted several complaints about the quality of service of almost all the network providers in the country,” he said.
To address the situation, Mr George disclosed that the government has taken decisive steps, including the approval of technology neutrality for MTN Ghana. This move allows the telecom giant to deploy existing spectrum bands more flexibly to enhance network performance. Empowering Women through Skill Development
Additionally, the National Communications Authority (NCA) has been authorised to provide more spectrum resources to both MTN and Telecel Ghana.
“I have taken decisive policy to approve technology neutrality for MTN and additional spectrum for MTN Ghana. I have also directed the NCA to make an additional spectrum offer to Telecel Ghana,” the Minister stated.
He explained that the policy shift is aimed at equipping telecom providers with the resources needed to address network challenges and enhance the overall user experience.
“This will provide operators with more resources to improve their service offerings and quality of services,” he added.
Mr George also issued a firm caution to the service providers, making it clear that the days of unchecked underperformance were over.
He revealed that the NCA will begin strict monitoring within three months of the spectrum allocation, with sanctions to follow any failure to improve service quality.
“I wish to serve notice that the NCA will, within three months of the assignment of this additional spectrum, begin a rigorous enforcement of quality of service on the providers. Failure to provide an improvement and quality of service by the network operators will result in stiff fines,” he warned.
The Minister’s announcement marks one of the first major regulatory interventions since he assumed office earlier this year and signals a tougher stance on the telecom sector’s responsibility to provide reliable services to consumers.
The move is expected to be welcomed by millions of mobile phone users and data subscribers who have long complained about dropped calls, slow internet speeds and general network unreliability.
MTN Cameroon scored a victory in the Central African country, as the Littoral Court of Appeal in Douala lifted a garnishee order placed on the telco’s bank accounts by the Bestinver group of companies.
Cameroon’s largest telecoms operator revealed the development on Tuesday evening, saying in a statement that the court unanimously decided – on 24 February – that the Bestinver group of companies was not entitled to impose these garnishees, which it had done since September 2022. MTN Cameroon received its final order in March 2025.
MTN Cameroon said it welcomes the decision “affirming the legitimacy of its defence and restoring its rights”.
For almost three years, MTN had not been able to access its bank accounts, worth over $23 million, over a matter not related to the telecoms provider.
MTN and its banking partners were served with a garnishee order at the request of a business tycoon with strong government connections, Ahmadou Baba Danpullo, who owns Bestinver companies.
The matter emanates from an ongoing case in the South African High Court involving Danpullo’s South African company, Bestinver Holdings, and First National Bank.
In the matter, FNB, which was owed R507 million by Danpullo’s companies, launched applications for the winding-up of the companies, and on 19 June 2020, the companies were placed in provisional business rescue; on 26 October 2020, the order was made final.
In response, Danpullo cried foul, alleging discrimination, as his real estate portfolio, reportedly valued at R4 billion, was liquidated for the R507 million owed to the bank.
FNB denied the allegation, saying the move was strictly a normal business decision to recoup monies owed to the bank.
Danpullo then approached courts in his home country and was granted garnishee orders on MTN accounts, claiming it is a subsidiary of the Public Investment Corporation, which he says is also a shareholder in FNB.
At the time, Africa’s largest telecoms provider said, “MTN Cameroon firmly contests the garnishment of its bank accounts, which it considers abusive, fraudulent, and unacceptable, given that MTN Cameroon has no relation whatsoever with either the Bestinver group of companies, Mr. Danpullo, or the said South African bank.”
The telco told reporters that neither FNB nor the Public Investment Corporation is a shareholder of MTN Cameroon.
Then CEO Mitwa Ng’ambi said, “We see the seizure of MTN Cameroon’s accounts as abusive and nothing more than an attempt to access funds that legitimately belong to us.”
As MTN Cameroon celebrated its court victory over Bestinver yesterday, the telco said, “We are grateful to our customers and partners for their trust during this process, assuring them of our commitment to creating share value.”
MTN Group has already committed $225 million to strengthening its operations in Cameroon.
Group CEO Ralph Mupita made the announcement in August last year during a meeting with Cameroon’s prime minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, and his delegation on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.
MTN said it is also interested in investing in future technologies, such as 5G, and is committed to ensuring more fair connection across the country by improving rural connectivity.
The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology, and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George sent a clear warning to individuals and companies engaged in the cutting of fibre optic cables across the country. The remarks were made during a press briefing on Wednesday, April 9, 2025, in Accra.
According to Hon. George, steps will be taken in the near future to hold contractors and other actors who destroy fibre optic cables, criminally liable.
“One of the things we’ll do is to deepen the designations of Critical National Information Infrastructure, and make it a criminal offence irrespective of whether you are a road contractor or whether you are Ghana water. If you cut fibre, you will be criminally liable for cutting it.”
“If you remember three years ago, when we had a triple fibre cut in the country on the same day, 70 % of our country could not make phone calls, imagine what that means for a country like this, or when we had the subsea cable cuts, what that did to us, and so fibre is now our lifeline and we need to protect it well”, the Minister added.
Industry loses about GHS 280 million due to fibre cuts
Between January and November, there were a total of 10,233 fibre optic cable cuts across the country. These incidents have cost the telecommunications industry a staggering $17,415,886.87 or GHS 278,654,176 to repair, with each repair averaging $1,639.61. This means that funds that we could have used to expand and enhance the existing services had to be reallocated to repair these damaged fibre networks. Several factors have been identified as major causes of fibre cuts in Ghana. These are road construction, theft, vandalism, drainage construction, private developer activities, and natural disasters. Additionally, operational works by other utility companies, such as Ghana Water and the Electricity Company of Ghana.
The importance of fibre in the modern telecoms industry
Fibre is a critical resource laid underground or strung above ground to connect to the network operating systems to provide faster data transfers, supporting high bandwidth applications and services. It ensures real-time communication and seamless connectivity. Fibre is known to be very reliable, offering a secure choice for data transmission. It is resistant to spatial interferences and ensures clear transmissions. In many cases, fibre is the most preferred resource for providing seamless telecommunications services and remains an essential component of modern network operations.
Impact on Service Quality and Customer Experience
Although fibre is expected to be secure when buried underground, the experience in Ghana is quite different. There are frequent cuts and damages to fibre laid across the country. These frequent disruptions directly affect the quality and availability of telecom services to Ghanaians, disrupting communication, internet connectivity, and other essential services that rely on our networks. These cuts, sadly, impact customer experiences. It creates congestion, poor voice calls, slow internet experience, and, in some cases, completely cuts off network services. This situation is unacceptable, and it undermines the significant investments made by telecom operators to deliver reliable services.
Ongoing Efforts to Address the Issue
In response to these challenges, the Chamber has been proactively engaging with the Minister of Roads and Highways, road agencies, road contractors, utility companies, and other key stakeholders who undertake major constructions and excavations in the country. Our efforts include active participation in the National Engineering Coordinating Team (NECT) meetings, where we continue to push for better collaboration to protect telecom infrastructure during construction and utility activities.
Despite these efforts, some entities involved in these damaging activities have remained recalcitrant, repeatedly causing harm to critical telecom infrastructure. These actions have had a direct impact on service quality, leading to outages, slowdowns, and interruptions that frustrate our subscribers and hinder the country’s digital progress.
Taking Stronger Measures
To ensure that Ghanaians continue to receive high-quality service, the Chamber is not only ramping up its engagement with the relevant stakeholders but also seeking the support of the Police and Judiciary to prosecute those responsible for these recurrent fibre cuts. The Chamber is proposing that its members consider taking legal action against uncooperative individuals and entities, ensuring they are held accountable according to the law.
Our Commitment to Quality Service
The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications remains committed to ensuring that all subscribers enjoy uninterrupted, high-quality telecom services. We will continue to work tirelessly with all stakeholders to protect our nation’s telecom infrastructure and to hold accountable those who undermine it.
Ghanaians need to protect telecommunications fibre – John Mahama urges
The flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), H.E John Dramani Mahama has called on road contractors and all Ghanaians to protect the fibre of telecommunication companies across the country.
He made the strong appeal during a recent media engagement in Accra. In response to a question on what his administration will do to ensure internet stability, following the events of March 14, 2024, the former president, called for extra care to protect the fibre that is laid underground and on poles across the country by telecommunication companies.
“We even have domestic fibre cuts. When they are doing road construction, they cuts the fibre links. And so we also must be careful how we protect the fibre that we have.”
His remarks come on the back of a recent engagement with the leadership of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GCT) and its sister outfit the EMIs Chamber of Ghana. During that meeting, the two Chambers called for increased attention and support for the telecommunications industry as well as the digital payments ecosystem.
The Zambian government has partnered with Airtel Zambia and IHS Towers to deploy 152 telecom towers over six months, aiming to raise network coverage to 91.6% at a cost of $14 million.
Announced on April 2, the initiative is part of Zambia’s broader digital transformation agenda under the Eighth National Development Plan (8NDP), which prioritizes public-private partnerships to expand mobile and broadband infrastructure, enhance digital literacy, and drive innovation in key sectors.
Percy Chinyama of the Smart Zambia Digital Transformation Institute emphasized the role of private sector collaboration following a March meeting with Airtel Africa representatives.
The Ministry of Technology and Science reaffirmed Zambia’s commitment to universal connectivity but noted that success depends on overcoming challenges such as device affordability, high service costs, and limited digital skills. As of 2023, internet penetration stood at just 31.2%, according to the ITU.
The Liberian government has begun the process of relocating the landing point of the ACE submarine cable to ensure continuity of internet services and avoid a major outage of the national network. The initiative, led by the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) in collaboration with the incumbent operator and the Cable Consortium of Liberia (CCL), is estimated to cost $200,000.
“This rerouting process is being driven by the construction of a monument in PHP Park, precisely where the ACE cable was originally connected. As the cable is no longer accessible from this site, it must be relocated to allow for future repair work,” the telecoms regulator explained in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Thursday, April 3.
As part of this operation, a cable ship is expected to arrive on the Liberian coast starting April 22. Although disruptions to internet connectivity are expected during the work, the government assures that it has taken measures to avoid a total shutdown.
This situation illustrates the urgent need to strengthen national telecom infrastructure to improve network resilience. A second submarine cable, supported by the World Bank under the West Africa Regional Digital Integration Project (WARDIP), was announced for September 2023. However, this project has not yet been completed, and frequent internet service interruptions persist.
Liberia can also consider alternatives to ensure stable connectivity. For example, the Global Mobile Operators Association (GSMA) recommends exploring satellite options. Additionally, in a 2020 digital economy diagnostic, the World Bank proposed connecting the country to its neighbors via fiber optics to diversify connectivity sources.
MTN South Sudan is expanding rural connectivity by providing 100 solar charging units to underserved communities.
The initiative will be carried out by MTN South Sudan’s regional sales managers in partnership with rural area chiefs to determine the best places for deployment.
According to the telco, the program aims to bridge the energy divide by delivering free and sustainable power solutions that allow households to stay connected.
Among other things, the units will help small companies and local shopkeepers who rely on MTN services, increase MTN’s involvement in community development and economic empowerment, and provide digital and financial access to the most remote places.
The charging solar systems are equipped with 12-volt batteries and have a capacity of around 280kWh, allowing people to charge their phones, laptops, and other vital gadgets.
MTN South Sudan says that by providing free access to solar-powered charging, it is driving digital and financial inclusivity while also empowering communities with uninterrupted connectivity.
“This initiative is a testament to our dedication to connecting South Sudan,” said Kenyi Lujang, head of sales and distribution at MTN South Sudan.
“By providing free solar charging, we are breaking down barriers to communication and financial services, ensuring no one is left behind in the digital age,” according to him.
There’s excitement bubbling in Kigali, Rwanda, ahead of the Global AI Summit on Africa, which opens today, promising economic opportunities and innovation.
Not least because of last week’s announcement from Cassava Technologies, a tech firm founded by Zimbabwean telecoms billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, that it would be building Africa’s first “artificial intelligence factory,” in partnership with leading AI chipmaker Nvidia.
Nvidia’s supercomputers, which use graphic processing units, or GPUs (the chips that often power AI), will be deployed at Cassava’s data centers in South Africa from as early as June, before being rolled out across the company’s other facilities in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and Nigeria.
Africa has fallen behind the global AI boom due in part to a lack of computing power. Analysis from Zindi, a community of 80,000 AI builders across 52 African countries, found that only 5% of Africa’s AI practitioners have access to computational power for research and innovation.
Better access to GPUs will help to “drive the AI revolution” across the continent, says Alex Tsado, founder and director of Alliance4AI, a non-profit that helps African institutions adopt emerging technologies. Currently, there are no big GPU clusters in Africa, and this is holding innovators back: “If you don’t have access to GPUs, it takes you many more hours, if not days, to build the same solutions (or AI systems) than it would take someone else who is in a place where they do have access (like the US or Europe),” he tells CNN.
“People start to see more reasons to gather data, because now they can process it; people start to see more reasons to train talent, because now there’s GPUs … (It) triggers the ecosystem to accelerate all the progress that they’ve already been making.”
While Cassava is yet to divulge details of its deployment plan, it said in a press release that Nvidia’s GPU-based supercomputers will enable faster AI model training and that the data centers will ensure businesses and researchers have access to the AI computing power required to build, train, scale, and deploy AI in a secure environment.
“Our AI factory provides the infrastructure for this innovation to scale, empowering African businesses, startups, and researchers with access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure to turn their bold ideas into real-world breakthroughs — and now, they don’t have to look beyond Africa to get it,” said Masiyiwa in the press release.
Democratizing AI
The high cost of hardware relative to income levels in Africa has been one of the main barriers to AI adoption. Some of Nvidia’s most powerful GPUs sell for as much as $40,000. According to AI4D, an African AI development program, the price of buying a GPU in Kenya represents 75% of GDP per capita, making it 31 times more expensive than one in Germany, in relative terms. This has led to a heavy reliance on foreign cloud services, such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure—but these too are expensive, since it costs more and takes longer to transmit data between geographical regions.
For Zindi’s network of AI builders, the development of local data centers with Nvidia GPU-powered supercomputerswill be a “game-changer,” according to Celina Lee, its CEO and co-founder.
“By establishing Africa-based AI infrastructure, ‘Zindians’ would benefit from more affordable compute resources, faster access to AI tools, and lower latency, making it easier to develop and deploy AI models efficiently,” she says.
Use of Nvidia’s cutting-edge technology—the same that is used by OpenAI, Tesla, Meta, Google, and other tech giants—will be a great equalizer, she adds: “This would democratize AI development, strengthen local AI ecosystems, and drive innovation across industries like agriculture, healthcare, and financial services, enabling more homegrown solutions tailored to Africa’s unique challenges.”
It could also help to increase Africa’s representation in global AI training datasets. Currently, African languages and dialects are underrepresented due to a lack of data, and there are often biases in training data, such as facial recognition systems that struggle with darker skin tones.
“With increased access to AI infrastructure, African practitioners could train models using local datasets that better represent diverse demographics, economic systems, and environments,” says Lee.
Tsado notes that there are still questions around how Cassava will overcome infrastructure challenges when building the factories—for instance, Africa’s unreliable power grids, which have put people off doing this earlier. And beyond access to GPUs, there are still challenges with African end users running AI models efficiently because of their reliance on lower-grade smartphones with limited access to internet apps, says Lee.
But both agree that Cassava’s move is a big step in the right direction. “This is a very welcome boost that Africa’s big tech is finally joining the African AI communities … and spending some money on GPUs,” says Tsado. “Strive (Masiyiwa)’s announcement is the first big public commitment that’s been made, and it can trigger other people like him to do the same.”
CEO of Telecel Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai, has called for deeper collaboration between academia and industry to align educational curricula with real-world skills, particularly in tech and data science, to build a competitive workforce.
Speaking as a guest speaker at Ghana Christian University College’s 14th Matriculation and 16th Congregation, she stressed that the quality of graduates is key to national development and economic sustainability.
“Academia must stay in touch with—and even ahead of—industry to prepare a future-ready workforce,” she said. She urged universities to revise curricula, partner on practical projects, and create structured work-readiness programs.
The ceremony saw 356 students matriculate and 186 graduate from the university’s Health Sciences and Business & Technology faculties.
Newly inducted GCUC President Rev. Dr. James Yamoah and Governing Council Chair Prof. Samuel Offei both appealed for support from the private sector and government to expand infrastructure and improve graduate employability.
In her closing remarks, Madam Obo-Nai encouraged graduates to lead with integrity and lifelong learning: “No textbook fully prepares you for the workplace—stay humble, stay curious, and prove your value.”
