Industry News

Mr Ken Ashigbey, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, has said network operators in 2018 paid a total of GH¢1.94 billion tax and a direct capital expenditure of over GH¢276 million to the state.

He explained that the mobile industry contributed close to nine percent of Ghana’s total revenue basket and employed more than 1.7 million people directly and indirectly.

Mobile Phone, he said, was a key channel for e-government’s strategy and financial inclusion drive, with public institutions now using mobile money, SMS, and USSD platforms to deliver services to the public.

Mr Ashigbey was speaking during the launch of “Mobile Report” by Jumia Ghana Limited in Accra to enlighten the public on the state of smartphone accessibility in Africa, particularly Ghana, and how it was contributing to socio-economic development.

He said since the inception of mobile phone usage in the country, 25 years ago, the industry had connected close to 70 percent of the population, which amounted to over 20 million individuals and connected about half of the population to the internet through their mobile phones.

“With the government’s drive for digitisation and building smart citizens, leveraging mobile technology is key to the vision and requires collaboration by all stakeholders, including; development organisations, private sector players like; Jumia and the mobile industry itself,” he said.

The collaboration, he said, would create opportunities to extend mobile services to unconnected populations, empower women and reduce all forms of inequality amongst the citizenry.

“I will use this platform to reiterate that mobile is a powerful tool in enhancing people’s lives by enabling them to access personalised, value-added services”.

Speaking on the rampant sale of pre-registered sim cards to mobile phone users, Mr Ashigbey urged telecommunication companies to get a robust database to revalidate sim cards that had been registered to track agents who registered them with their identification cards and sold to customers.

Mr Ore Odusanya, the Managing Director of Jumia Ghana Limited, who delivered the report said, Jumia in 2018 sold 1.5 million smartphones in Africa as against 900 thousand in 2017.

According to the report, he said brands like Huawei and Samsung were reaching out to the underserved segment of the market and introducing affordable smartphones and other brands continued to introduce highly specked smartphones at high prices, which contributed to 60 percent of the smartphones sold in Africa.

These brands, he said, were Infinix, Tecno and Hotwave, adding that, they were among the top five mobile brands on Jumia in 2018.

Mr Odusanya noted that the adoption of smartphones, came the purchase and use of data which implied a direct impact on growth in the sector. He disclosed that mobile broadband coverage in Ghana in 2018 was 80.33 percent and Jumia would launch its “Mobile Week” from April 8 to 14, 2019 to enable members of the public purchase smart phones at discounted prices.

The brands that would participate in the Mobile Week include; Samsung, Tecno, Infinix, Huawei, and Apple.

Source: GNA

Mr Selorm Adadevoh, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, has said the importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the development of student’s academic work and this has propelled them to invest in education.

Mr Adadevoh was addressing students and staff of the New Juaben Senior High School at the commissioning of a library and ICT centre at Koforidua.

The facility was built at a cost of GH¢ 602,150.00 and expected to benefit over 2,500 students as well as teachers.

The facility has a 200-seater conventional library, 20-seater ICT centre, teachers common area as well as internet service.

He said through the MTN Ghana Foundation, his outfit has championed and supported national development efforts by investing in education, health and economic empowerment.

Mr Adadevoh said so far over GH¢33 million has been invested by the Foundation in 144 projects across the country out of which 82 are in education.

He said 26 ICT centers and four libraries have been built and handed over to schools, whiles, two libraries have been restocked through the Foundation.

Mr Adadevoh said research has proven that libraries are still considered very important by a greater majority of people.

He said the main function of a school library is to develop the reading and research habits of students, fill the information gap and helps to open the world view of students.

Mr Adadevoh said the conventional approach to library development in the past was just providing a facility with books, shelves and sitting areas, however, the effect of digitization has become pervasive and libraries now have ICT facilities embedded in them.

He urged the school administration and the students to make good use of the library to create a community of students who are connected not just by books or subjects but also in innovative ideas sharing.

He also urged teachers to look for videos which better illustrates some of the things they teach and through the internet students can learn how to create content or run small experiments.

He said the fibre broad band has been deployed to the school and on the strength of that, Huawei is paying for the monthly recurrent charges for a period of 5 years.

Mr Frank Obeng Wilson, the Headmaster of the school, expressed profound gratitude to MTN for the gesture extended to them which is going to help promote and enhance academic work in the school.

GNA

Who doesn’t want value for money? Everyone deserves to get the most out of their money for the services or products they pay for and enjoy it to their maximum satisfaction.

So, imagine walking into a restaurant with your dinner date, and ordering that favorite dish off the menu – jollof and goat meat. As you enjoy the meal you get satisfied but have a little of the portion left on your plate.

You wish that you could pack the rest of the meal to take away and enjoy later, but to your utmost dismay, the restaurant does not allow food to be packed away. While you look on thinking of what you could do; the waitress clears the table and, in the process, takes away the remaining food even though you paid the full price for it.

This is similar to what happens to our data when we don’t consume all before the expiry period! Thanks to AirtelTigo, the days of customers losing unused data at the end of the day, week or month is finally over.

Christened the “Big Time Data Bundles”, there are no daily, weekly or monthly validity constraints; data never expires. This is in response to feedback received from customers on how frustrating it is to lose unused data bundles due to the validity constraint. AirtelTigo chooses to evolve to meet customer’s needs with solutions that make mobile telecommunications affordable and accessible.

For the first time in Ghana, history is being written in the telecommunications industry with AirtelTigo offering affordable data bundles that don’t expire. The company is giving new and existing pre-paid customers more data for GHS 1, GHS 2, GHS 5 and GHS 10.

Essentially, customers can get 1.5 GB for only GHS10 to watch their favorite movies online and live football games. The bundles will also enable customers to access their favourite social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram among others.

The Director of Marketing Operations for AirtelTigo, Pius Owusu Tuffour shares his excitement about being able to give customers value for their money with the ‘Big Time Data Bundle’.

He explained that the company recognises the growing demand for mobile data in the country, but customers want to be cost–effective with their data usage, adding, “There’s no need to be on a data plan that doesn’t give you value.”

He said the company’s move will offer customers great benefits. “We designed this product to provide great benefits to our customers, without compromising on value-for-money. Customers can now enjoy their data without having to worry about it expiring.”

With the ‘Big Time Data Bundles’ offering affordable data with no validity periods now in place, AirtelTigo is significantly reducing the cost of connecting Ghanaians to the internet.

Customers can now enjoy the ‘Big Time Data Bundle’ by dialing *111# and customers can also purchase using a scratch card or through AirtelTigo Money (also known as ATM).

 

Source: airteltigo.com.gh

Vodafone Ghana, one of the nation’s leading telecommunication service providers, has launched its 4G service to provide faster data and more coverage for its over 9.5 million customers.

Vodafone is also extending the 4.5G service on its sites to enhance technologies and digital services.

Mrs Ursla Owusu Ekuful, the Minister of Communications, who launched the 4G service, noted that the occasion marked a consolidation of solid partnership between the Government and Vodafone Group way back in 2008.

Mrs Ekuful explained that Ghana settled on Vodafone as partners in the then Ghana Telecommunication Company Limited because it had a master plan for the communication industry and Vodafone was best suited.

“We wanted to achieve liberalisation, accessibility, affordability, and technological dominance. Customers now have a real power of choice, quality and empowerment.”

According to the Communication Minister, new technologies such as long-term evolution 4G were necessary game changers, adding that, “We now live in a whole new world where mobile technology is pervasive and a necessary evil”.

She said Ghana now with 80.3 per cent data penetration was growing close to 100 per cent mobile phone penetration among other things, describing the growth as impressive.

“It shows how far we have come and heaps a welcome pressure on government to ensure that the right policy environment is created to help companies and individuals to grow,” she added.

She described Vodafone’s 4G launch as timely moment for the industry stressing that customers and stakeholders would turn it up when it comes to speed, reliability and stability and government which owns 30 per cent shares in Vodafone Ghana was truly excited about it.

Mrs Ekuful said as a Ministry, it had always been their responsibility to ensure that the telecom sector was properly guided with relevant policies and initiatives that would seek to enhance the sector; make the operators more willing to engage and endanger healthy competition.

“This, we will continue to do without compromising on quality efficiency,” she said.

She said: “4G is great but I see it as a step towards deploying 5G by the industry…Do not be surprised if 5G reaches this shore in no time. I know Vodafone will be ever ready to embrace it when it does come”.

She congratulated Ms Yolanda Cuba, the outgoing Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Vodafone Ghana, for being one of the progressive and successful leaders of Vodafone Ghana and an accomplished female industry player.

Mr Joe Anokye, the Director General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), said the Authority had confidence in Vodafone to execute an excellent technology solution to the benefit of Ghanaians.

According to Mr Anokye, one of the desires of the NCA was to see the best of technology to empower the population socially and economically.

The NCA Boss said the country now had a healthy sector that was poised to move the nation to the next stage of development.

However, he said issues relating to privacy and data misappropriation were creating problems for the telecommunications industry all over the world.

He said stringent measures were being put in place in both Europe and the Unites States to tighten the sector and protect customers and users alike.

“We have the same approach as we strive to cure the industry of illegal practices, while making our industry an example in the sub-region and the continent at large.

It is our duty as regulators to continue to impress upon telecom companies to consistently become agents of change not only focusing on telecommunication solutions and revenue generation, but also avenues for education and empowerment of the communities in which workers live and work,” Mr Anokye stressed.

He said the launch would benefit the 9.5 million customers of Vodafone and bring more potential customers who would move to 4G to enjoy the benefits.

Ms Cuba said the journey of her organisation had been tough acquiring tougher decisions by management and stakeholders and the 4G deployment remained one of Vodafone’s biggest investments since it began its operations in the country.

The outgoing CEO said the launch of the 4G would enable its customers to experience fast speeds, high end network quality, faster downloads and uploads and described her experience in Ghana as an exciting one, saying, her assignment in Ghana had taught her perseverance, determination, grit, aggression and faith.

Dr Kobina Quansah, the Board Chair of Vodafone Ghana, said the 4G technology formed part of a concerted effort to ensure that customers with Vodafone were not left behind in a fast-moving pace of mobile and digital technology.

He said the launch was in total alignment of Vodafone’s promise of an exciting future for its customers.

Source: GNA

Ghana’s leading telecommunications service provider, MTN, has launched its 4G+ service to provide faster data speeds with widest coverage for its customers.
“The 4G+ service runs on a 4G LTE Advanced technology using the combination of the 800MHz and 2600MHz for carrier aggregation, which is an enhancement on the 4G LTE experience.

This provides more capacity and enhanced data speed of up to 20x if migrating from 3G to 4G+ and 5x if migrating from 4G to 4G+”, a release issued in Accra today said.

Announcing the service, the CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr Selorm Adadevoh, expressed delight at the extent to which the 4G+ technology will further impact the development of the country as it provides more opportunities for Ghanaians to fully utilise digital services.

“The underlying belief we have, which drives us in providing more enhanced technologies, is that everybody deserves the benefits of a modern connected life,” he stated.

He said “this year is MTN’s ‘Year of the Customer’ and to make our customers lives a whole lot brighter we continue to invest in the latest technology to enable them experience an enhanced digital lifestyle. Additionally, it will also go to support the growth of the country in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Big Data,” he added.

He said, “With faster Internet and wider coverage, the transmission of data can be done with ease, on-the-go, with the best speed everywhere. Higher speed Internet broadband promotes business growth and enriched social lives, ultimately boosting national development.”

Sharing details on the enhanced service, the Chief Technical Officer for MTN Ghana, Mr Thomas Motlepa, said the company had already deployed 1,226 total 4G LTE sites of which 625 sites were 4G+ in all regions nationwide, especially regional capitals and key towns.

He added that plans for full national coverage were presently ongoing.

Source: Myjoyonline

Vodafone Ghana has announced March 19, 2019 to roll out the commercial services for its 4G network.

According to the company, the earlier date of April has been moved forward due to the commitment of the company to deliver excellent service for Ghanaians.

Outgoing Chief Executive of Vodafone, Yolanda Cuba in a press conference disclosed that Vodafone has invested in about 200 cell sites to deliver the service.

“Prior to the acquisition of the 4G network, we indicated to you that customers will be able to get the service by the second quarter of the year, I’m happy to announce that there has been a massive support from the technical team and all members at Vodafone hence we will launch commercial operations of the 4G services next week 19th of March this year 2019. This will mean an improved network quality for customers and all our services”.

Vodafone Ghana acquired a 4G spectrum this year to roll out an improved service across the country.

This makes the company the second to acquire the service since it was introduced by the National Communication Authority.

The company has rescinded its earlier decision to roll out the service in April due to an advanced investment and commitment to get its customers on a 4G before the second quarter of the year.

On the issue of listing Vodafone on the Ghana Stock Exchange, Yolanda Cuba noted that the attention of the board has been drawn on the matter but they are yet to make a decision.”It has been a decision for the Vodafone board and not management, I am a management member but I must say it has come to our attention. There is an ongoing discussion between the government of Ghana and the Vodafone board but it’s not their focus for now.

Our challenge was the balance sheet which we got it cleared with support from the government of Ghana,” Yolanda Cuba said.

She also disclosed that the company is investing about $100 million to upgrade existing sites and new ones it intends to establish.

Vodafone Ghana won one lot out of three to begin 4G operations (2x5MHz frequency spectrum block in the 800 MHz Band) for mobile services.

This followed successful financial negotiations with the National Communications Authority (NCA).

Source: Myjoyonline

MTN Ghana has underscored the need for appreciating the tremendous role being played by women towards the development of the country.

MTN recognizes the important role women play in nurturing, enhancing and developing people, communities and nations around the world.

As organizations observe this day around the world, MTN Ghana would like to use this opportunity to thank all women in MTN for the pivotal role they continue to play in business and in national development.

The Chief Executive Officer of MTN, Mr. Selorm Adadevoh commended the efforts of women in MTN.

He said, “we are committed to the development and welfare of women. MTN’s market leadership will not have been a reality without the contribution of women in the organization.”

Commenting on the celebration, the Human Resource Executive of MTN, Mrs Amma Benneh-Amponsah said, “we continue to celebrate women for their diversity.

MTN has about 40% of its workforce being women spread across varying levels both operational and strategic.”

As part of activities to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day, the CEO of African Women’s Development fund, Theo Sowa had a talk with MTN staff on the theme #BalanceforBetter. In her presentation, she said, “the narratives of the African woman has to change for good and there is the need to have a society that rewards everyone especially women all year round.

“Diversity opens many opportunities and therefore women should look beyond how we are investing in our country now and go beyond the easy things. We need to recognize that we have been privileged to be in the workplace that encourages continuous transformation and innovation” she added.

MTN has made a lot of interventions to make the workplace conducive and more enjoyable for women. The company has a crèche facility in-house for nursing mothers to take care of their babies while at work.

To create awareness of women’s health and wellness, MTN periodically organizes breast and cervical screening for its female staff among others. MTN’s flexi hours also gives staff including women an opportunity to choose convenient work schedules.

MTN through its Foundation has undertaken various projects aimed at improving the wellbeing of women. Through its health and economic empowerment portfolios, MTN has undertaken projects such as the provision of a Maternity Block for the Tema General Hospital, the refurbishment of the 2nd floor labor unit of Korle-Bu Maternity Ward, Construction of Neonatal unit for Tamale Teaching Hospital, Construction of Girls Dormitory Block for Apam SHS, and the Construction of a 15 Bed Children Ward for Twifo Praso. Every Christmas, MTN staff volunteers distribute hampers to mothers of babies born on Christmas Day.

There are many more projects across the country aimed at empowering women economically. MTN undertook the Girl Code Project aimed at training women in Apps development and provided support aimed at increasing access to ICT education for girls.

The International Women’s Day which is celebrated on 8th March every year is a global celebration of the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. The theme for this year’s celebration is #BalanceforBetter.

Source: Newsghana.com

The eve of March 8th has me reflecting on the reason for the United Nation’s establishment of an official International Women’s Day, back in 1975. Prior to this, several countries had in some shape or form commemorated a Women’s day, with March 8th, 1975 being the first International Women’s Day as formally established by the UN.

The intention was to create a rally point where everyone across the globe could celebrate women and stop to assess how well we are doing in supporting women’s participation in political and economic activity.

So, how well are we actually doing? According to the World Economic Forum 2018 Global Gender Gap Index, it will take more than a century to close the gap between men and women in sub-Saharan Africa.

This may seem disheartening, But, I do think society has made several deliberate steps and has come a long way in affording and exposing women to similar opportunities as men.

Years ago, studying Computer Science in University, the ratio of my male to female classmates was staggering but I’m encouraged to see how the number of female students graduating from these previously male dominated disciplines has grown substantially since then.

Further still, my first Chief Executive role had me as the only female on my executive team. Today however, leading AirtelTigo, it’s exciting to see that 40 per cent of my executive team is female. Even more humbling is the fact that having become AirtelTigo CEO just over 8 months ago, two of my predecessors were women. This is progress.

I believe in gender equality and its importance to socio-economic development. I believe in inclusion and diversity in the working environment to allow people to grow and succeed, regardless of their gender or race.

Some have said that the empowerment of a woman is the empowerment of generations to come.

Some facts and figures from unwomen.org show that when more women work, economies grow. When there are increased leadership opportunities for women, organizations’ effectiveness and growth is accelerated.

Many companies in Africa, like AirtelTigo will embark on different initiatives to help create “Balance for Better”, as inspired by the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day. AirtelTigo will for instance over the next few days shine a light on all the fabulous female talent we have in the organization, in the hope that this will inspire other females to rise to their potential too.

Achieving gender equality is a shared responsibility. In partnership with the private sector, our governments should also continue with deliberate policies and programmes to ensure equal access to education, healthcare, economic and leadership opportunities.

There is also a responsibility on us as women to rise up and relentlessly go after the opportunities we desire. The opportunities that we know if afforded we could make significant impact in and through. Relentlessness knows no gender, nor does hard work nor ambition.

As we celebrate ourselves as women, I encourage us all to make good use of our skills and talents and support each other as women and sisters of Africa — to help transform our economies and societies. Women are an important voice in the governance of our communities and nations. Together, let’s build a gender-balanced continent, better for our children, communities, businesses and governments.

Source: Ghanaweb

 

Vodafone Ghana Foundation, on the eve of Ghana’s 62nd Independence Anniversary, settled debts of 108 detained patients, totaling GH¢250,000.00, at health facilities across the country.

The initiative was part of Vodafone Ghana Foundation’s way of celebrating the independence with the citizenry.

Detained patients at various regional hospitals including the maternity and surgery departments benefitted from the package.

Patients supported included pregnant women who had delivered for months and were detained due to their inability to settle their bills and accident victims who had undergone intensive and costly surgery but were not able to pay their bills.

Mr Gayheart Mensah, the Director of External Affairs and Corporate Security at Vodafone Ghana, said the company was not only concerned with yielding profits but sensitive to the needs, anxiety and aspirations of the citizenry.

He said it was for this reason that it allocated GH¢250,000.00 to put smiles on the faces of the detained patients to give them back their freedom, as the nation celebrates her 62nd Independence.

“Independence is all about enjoying freedom,” he said.

Mr Mensah noted that the gesture was also to support the Government in the efforts towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of providing universal access to basic health.

Mrs Gladys Addo, a Principal Nursing Officer (PNO) and the In-Charge of the first floor of the Maternity Ward at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, expressed gratitude to Vodafone Ghana for the kind gesture.

She said the inability of many patients to settle their bills after receiving medical care had been a big challenge to the Hospital, as it lost huge sums of money.

She added that it was also disadvantageous to new patients who were admitted in terms of accommodation.

Other beneficiary patients, she said, were those who had sustained brain injury, and had undergone spinal and other fractured bone surgeries.

Ms Emelia Okai, a PNO of the Department of Surgery at the KBTH, said: “Vodafone has taught us that they don’t only take our money but extend their hands to make sure patients get well.”

She urged other institutions that undertake benevolent activities to consider the health sector and go to their aid.

Ms Lydia Tiwaa, a 20-year-old nursing mother and a beneficiary of the support, thanked Vodafone for releasing them as life at the Hospital was challenging.

She said she suffered from obstetric fistula after delivery, bringing her bill to GH¢4,700.00 including drugs, which her family could not pay.

Source: GNA

MTN Group increased its subscriber base by 16 million in 2018 to 233 million customers across 21 markets in Africa and the Middle East. The number of active data users increased by 10 million to 79 million, and the active mobile money subscriber base rose to 27 million. This strong commercial momentum drove a 10.7 percent constant currency increase in service revenue to ZAR 125.4 billion, the company said. The group said it met all its medium-term targets, reducing its holding company leverage and accelerating service revenue growth, driven by the implementation of its BRIGHT strategy. It also announced plans for asset disposals and raised its target for service revenue growth in the coming years.

EBITDA rose more than 15 percent, and the margin improved to 35.9 percent from 35.4 percent, thanks to underlying improvement in South Africa and Nigeria. Reported headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased to 337 cents from 182 cents in 2017. Adjusting for one-off items, HEPS would have been ZAR 5.65 per share. A final dividend of ZAR 3.25 was declared, down from ZAR 4.50 a year earlier, as expected.

Asset sales
MTN said it conducted an extensive review of its portfolio to reduce risk, improve returns and simplify MTN. This review covered not only its subsidiary companies but also its associates and its investments in e-commerce investments and tower companies. The group has ZAR 40 billion tied up in the value of the e-commerce and tower company investments and announced that they are not viewed as long-term strategic assets of the group and will be monetised over time. The group has committed in the portfolio review to realise more than ZAR 15 billion over the next three years, excluding any proceeds from its ZAR 23 billion position in towers group IHS.

The operator also announced that it would be disposing of its 53 percent stake in Botswana operator Mascom for USD 300 million, equal to 6.1x EBITDA. The other shareholder in Mascom, Econet Wireless will acquire the stake. The lack of control of the operator and MTN branding meant that the group is not able to execute on its BRIGHT strategy there.

MTN also confirmed plans to list MTN Nigeria on the stock market in the first half of the year. This will first be a listing by introduction followed later by a public offering. Over time, local ownership of the company is expected to grow to 35 percent.

Improved targets
MTN’s leverage came down to 2.3 times at end-2018 from 2.9 times in June and within the target range of 2.0-2.5x. The group’s overall gearing moderated to 1.3x.

MTN said it overcame several regulatory headwinds in 2018, the most material of which was the Central Bank of Nigeria dispute on historical dividend repatriations. This was resolved and MTN announced in December 2018 that an agreement to implement a notional reversal of the 2008 private placement and consequently made a resolution payment of USD 53 million.

The group said it is committed to further enhancing its risk management and stakeholder management processes. Considering the improved performance in 2018 and its growth plans, MTN revised its mid-term guidance upwards, targeting double-digit growth in service revenue at constant currencies rather than upper-single-digit growth. This is driven by double-digit growth from MTN Nigeria and mid-single-digit. MTN also aims to continue to expand the EBITDA margin in the next 3-5 years.

The improving revenue growth, margins and capex intensity are anticipated to drive significant improvements in group returns. MTN expects the adjusted ROE to improve from 11.5 percent in 2018 to over 20 percent over the medium term. While the board remains committed to growth of 10-20 percent in the dividend going forward, MTN said this is likely to be towards the lower end of the range in 2019.

Source: Telecompaper.com