It has been barely six months since Vodafone Ghana
launched their 4G network, but the telco said they already need more 4G
spectrum because customers are hungry for more.
Vodafone was the second telco to launch 4G in Ghana
on the back of a 2×5MHz spectrum lot in the 800MHz band, which they acquired at
a reported US$30million.
Speaking with visiting executives of the Network of
Communication Reporters (NCR), Vodafone Ghana CEO, Patricia Obo-Nai said they
even spent more money deploying the 4G network on the back of 200 base
stations, and they expected customer uptake to grow gradually for about one
year before they would need to make another investment, but the network got
congested from day one.
According to her, they were compelled to bring in
extra equipment and rollout 250 more base stations, which they have just
completed.
She, however, believes the telco is already at a
point where it needs more spectrum because “starting a 4G network with 200
base stations was a good place to start but obviously the demand is growing
faster than expected so more spectrum rather than equipment is the way to go
now, to expand further and even better the service quality.”
Patricia Obo-Nai said data production depends on
either more equipment or more spectrum and both options are expensive, but that
is an investment Vodafone is committed to make, while expecting the regulatory
environment drives growth across board.
She explained that Vodafone had always maintained
that spectrum price in Ghana is relatively too high, and the government’s
spectrum policy seem to be helping a skewed growth to the detriment of several
industry players.
Patricia Obo-Nai said there is no real long-term
benefit is pricing spectrum so high, and denying many players access and or
denying them the money they rather need to invest in deployment for wider accessibility
and long-term benefit.
“When we invest in network expansion, it has a
multiplier effect of extending coverage to many people, providing the enabling
environment for job creation, providing direct and indirect jobs to vendors and
their agents, generating revenue for both local and central government as well
as for regulators, and many more.
“It is about time to take a second look at the
spectrum policy framework with the view to providing direction for even more
investment, particularly in higher technology, as data available indicate 4G
coverage (between Vodafone and MTN) is only 6%,” she said.
She argued that if the cost of spectrum is
affordable, it is not a favor to the telco but goes a long way to ensure bigger
investments into providing better quality of service and dealing with
challenges in highly congested communities among other things.
The world is already going 5G and even discussions
around 6G has started. Meanwhile, Ghana still has very low 4G coverage and
several 4G spectrum licenses are largely dormant, and many may never get
deployed.
Attempts by some telcos, including Vodafone, to
partner BWAs for the wider deployment of 4G has been prevented by the regulator
on two grounds – alleged lack of regulatory framework for such partnership, and
to prevent telcos from entering the 4G space through the “window”,
after MTN had entered through the “door” by paying a whopping US$67.5
million for their 4G license.
Fibre cuts
The Vodafone CEO was also worried after they have
been compelled to make all the heavy investments into deploying the service,
rampant fibre cuts also rears its ugly head and disrupts their service quality,
creates additional operation cost for them, damages their reputation and
eventually attracts regulator sanctions.
She said Vodafone has an effective
performance-related strategy between them and their vendors to ensure proper
protection of their underground fibre and cables, but the state needs to also
be interested in protecting telecom infrastructure just as they are in
protecting water and electricity infrastructure.
“It is sad that when people damage water pipes
and electricity cables in the course of any construction, they are required to
repair it by themselves, but when people damage telecom fibre and cable, it is
the affected telco that fixes the fibre. That situation needs to change.”
she said.
Apart from thieves who steal cables, the Vodafone
CEO said most of the fibre cuts are caused by government road contractors and
private real estates developers, but very often, these people get away with it
and the telco is left to face the brunt of it.
She said Vodafone does have microwave infrastructure
that carry the network quite well, but fibre is high speed and carries a lot of
data, and even the Communications Ministry agrees that it should be treated as
a National Security asset but that is get to happen.
Patricia Obo-Nai believes if National Security makes
it their business to protect telecom infrastructure and lift that operational
cost from the telcos, it will go a long way to benefit the general public in
terms of better quality of service and even affordable services.
NCR
Dean of NCR, Charles Benoni Okine assured the
Vodafone CEO that NCR is willing and ready to create the platform for a
national discourse on policies affects the industry in ways that benefit all
stakeholders.
He believes journalist has a role to play in shaping
policy for the betterment of the country, adding that NCR exist for that
purposes, particularly with regards to the telecoms and ICT industry.
The Dean however express the hope that industry
players would show commitment to building the capacities of journalists to
continue to play their roles more effectively
