MTN continues to dominate Ghana’s telecoms sector even as internet penetration rises to 93%

GHANA – South African multinational mobile telecommunications company, MTN has continued to dominate Ghana’s telecommunications sector even as the number of Ghanaians using internet continue to rise.

According to the National Communication Authority’s (NCA) latest telecommunication industry statistics the penetration rate of internet users for 2G/3G stood at 92.76% at the end of December 2019.

According to NCA, MTN led the market with a share of 71.2%, representing 20,086,336 users at the end of December 2019.

The market leader was followed by Vodafone which has a market share of 12.64% representing a total number of 3,539,078 subscriptions for Vodafone’s 2G/3G mobile data in December 2019.

AirtelTigo came in third with 4,110,972 users subscribed to its 2G/3G mobile data for December 2019 representing a market share of 14.68%.

Glo recorded data subscriber figures of 269,153 at the end of December 2019, reflecting a market share of 0.96%.

Blu Ghana recorded a total subscription of 225 whereas Broadband Home recorded a total of 1,058 subscriptions.

The NCA however noted that despite the increase in access to internet, the total number of subscriptions for 4G Data was 2,382,876.

For 4G subscription, MTN recorded a total of 2,173,862 subscriptions, followed by Vodafone with 161,892.

Surfline recorded subscriptions of 43,735 whilst Telesol registered 2,104. Blu Ghana recorded a total subscription of 225 whereas Broadband Home recorded a total of 1,058 subscriptions.

When it comes to voice subscriptions, the authority revealed that the total number of mobile voice subscriptions was 40,857,077 at the end of December 2019.

This according to NCA, the latest data represented a percentage increase of 1.70% from November 2019’s figure of 40,173,115.

The main catalysts for the rise in the number of people with access to mobile phones and internet usage has been attributed to the recent push for telecommunication companies to expand their network coverage, the availability of cheap smart phones from China and robust legal regime.

Mobile technology is seen as a game changer and lifeline for the West African nation, with both urban and rural youth embracing the new technology for their banking and other telephony services.

Ghana’s telecom players are said to operate against a backdrop of high cost and operational pressures, but they benefit from the support of a tough regulatory framework and a loose market.