The Cost of MTN Ghana’s Dominance

The National Communications Authority (NCA) has declared MTN Ghana as a significant market power and will begin to implement specific policies to ensure a level playing field for all telecom service providers in the country. With 23.9 million voice subscriptions, MTN Ghana controls 57% of the subscriber market share in Ghana, far ahead of Vodafone, AirtelTigo, and Glo at 21.97%, 20.3%, and 1.75% respectively. Despite the presence of 52 Internet service providers and 3 other telcos, MTN enjoys 67% of the country’s data market and currently leads the country’s fast-growing mobile money sector. NCA states policies will be put in place to ensure competition and more investments in the country’s telecom sector. Some of these measures will include a favourable connection rate for disadvantaged operators, the setting of floor and ceiling pricing on all voice, data, text messages and mobile money subscriptions. It will also ensure that the various operator vendors are not subject to exclusionary pricing or behaviour. Though MTN Ghana claims that it has yet to receive an official notice, once these measures are implemented, prices of data and voice might slightly increase across all telcos.

SOURCE: TECHPOINT