MTN's Ghana unit — which grew service revenue more than a third in its first quarter to end-March amid strong demand for data — has signed a roaming deal with British operator Vodafone as part of that country's plan to ensure that mobile customers are never without a connection. MTN has been working feverishly to maintain smooth relations with regulators on the continent after run-ins in neighbouring Nigeria, which cost the group billions.
— Ghana's government said consumers should be able to stay connected wherever they are in the country
In 2021, the Ghanaian government said it would implement a plan to prioritise national roaming among all operators in the country. Roaming refers to a situation where one operator leverages the network infrastructure of another, usually at a fee, in areas where it does not have its own coverage.
In SA, Telkom has such agreements in place with both MTN and Vodacom owing to its much smaller footprint of cellphone towers around the country.
Ghana's government said consumers should be able to stay connected wherever they are in the country without the need to switch networks, which also reduces the need to carry multiple sim cards. In turn, such arrangements also help to close the infrastructure gap for smaller players.
MTN Ghana and Vodafone Ghana have entered into a strategic partnership to pilot roaming in the country's Volta Region as a first step to a broader nationwide partnership. This agreement will see Vodafone Ghana expand its coverage by leveraging MTN’s network infrastructure in the pilot phase.
Earlier in the week, competitor Glo — which has failed to gain much traction in Ghana since its 2012 launch with just 2.1% share of the market — entered into a nationwide roaming arrangement with larger rival AirtelTigo for voice, data and SMS services. It is hoped that this will help to improve its coverage as well as quality of service.
MTN has in recent years been making an effort to comply with regulations in its various operating countries to avoid squirmishes and possible fines that it and pay-TV operator MultiChoice had to deal with in places like Nigeria.
MTN Ghana's agreement comes as the unit reported that service revenue rose 34.5% to 2.35bn cedi (R4.8bn), with after-tax profit rising 53.7% to 707.5m cedi, Africa's biggest mobile operator said in an update. Active data subscribers increased 14.4% to 12.8-million, helping to drive up data revenue by almost two-thirds.
In the quarter, MTN Ghana rolled out 62 2G sites, 59 3G sites and 352 4G sites and modernised 301 4G sites, which supported the increase in 4G coverage by 1.2% to 91.8%.
MTN Ghana, which accounted for just more than a tenth of group revenue in 2021, said on Thursday that despite this, the quarter was a tough one for the West African country’s economy, with the cedi weakening against the dollar, while consumers were battling with double-digit inflation, including rising food and fuel costs.
“Our macro and business operating environment is facing increasing uncertainty and volatility, exacerbated by global events like the war in Ukraine,” MTN Ghana said.
“In Ghana, these factors, among others, are contributing to significant increases in inflation, fuel price increases and currency depreciation, which are in turn resulting in operational expense hikes. For consumers, these trends have put a strain on disposable income and discretionary spend capacity.”
This article has been updated with additional information throughout.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.