{"id":756243,"date":"2019-12-02T10:49:10","date_gmt":"2019-12-02T10:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2019\/12\/02\/we-need-more-4g-spectrum-already-vodafone\/"},"modified":"2019-12-02T10:49:10","modified_gmt":"2019-12-02T10:49:10","slug":"we-need-more-4g-spectrum-already-vodafone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/12\/02\/we-need-more-4g-spectrum-already-vodafone\/","title":{"rendered":"We need more 4G spectrum already &#8211; Vodafone"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"434\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download-Copy-696x434.jpg\"   alt=\"vodafone\" title=\"download (Copy)\"\/><\/div>\n<p>It has been barely six months since Vodafone Ghana<br \/>\nlaunched their 4G network, but the telco said they already need more 4G<br \/>\nspectrum because customers are hungry for more.<\/p>\n<p>Vodafone was the second telco to launch 4G in Ghana<br \/>\non the back of a 2\u00d75MHz spectrum lot in the 800MHz band, which they acquired at<br \/>\na reported US$30million.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking with visiting executives of the Network of<br \/>\nCommunication Reporters (NCR), Vodafone Ghana CEO, Patricia Obo-Nai said they<br \/>\neven spent more money deploying the 4G network on the back of 200 base<br \/>\nstations, and they expected customer uptake to grow gradually for about one<br \/>\nyear before they would need to make another investment, but the network got<br \/>\ncongested from day one.<\/p>\n<p>According to her, they were compelled to bring in<br \/>\nextra equipment and rollout 250 more base stations, which they have just<br \/>\ncompleted.<\/p>\n<p>She, however, believes the telco is already at a<br \/>\npoint where it needs more spectrum because \u201cstarting a 4G network with 200<br \/>\nbase stations was a good place to start but obviously the demand is growing<br \/>\nfaster than expected so more spectrum rather than equipment is the way to go<br \/>\nnow, to expand further and even better the service quality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patricia Obo-Nai said data production depends on<br \/>\neither more equipment or more spectrum and both options are expensive, but that<br \/>\nis an investment Vodafone is committed to make, while expecting the regulatory<br \/>\nenvironment drives growth across board.<\/p>\n<p>She explained that Vodafone had always maintained<br \/>\nthat spectrum price in Ghana is relatively too high, and the government\u2019s<br \/>\nspectrum policy seem to be helping a skewed growth to the detriment of several<br \/>\nindustry players. <\/p>\n<p>Patricia Obo-Nai said there is no real long-term<br \/>\nbenefit is pricing spectrum so high, and denying many players access and or<br \/>\ndenying them the money they rather need to invest in deployment for wider accessibility<br \/>\nand long-term benefit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we invest in network expansion, it has a<br \/>\nmultiplier effect of extending coverage to many people, providing the enabling<br \/>\nenvironment for job creation, providing direct and indirect jobs to vendors and<br \/>\ntheir agents, generating revenue for both local and central government as well<br \/>\nas for regulators, and many more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is about time to take a second look at the<br \/>\nspectrum policy framework with the view to providing direction for even more<br \/>\ninvestment, particularly in higher technology, as data available indicate 4G<br \/>\ncoverage (between Vodafone and MTN) is only 6%,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>She argued that if the cost of spectrum is<br \/>\naffordable, it is not a favor to the telco but goes a long way to ensure bigger<br \/>\ninvestments into providing better quality of service and dealing with<br \/>\nchallenges in highly congested communities among other things.<\/p>\n<p>The world is already going 5G and even discussions<br \/>\naround 6G has started. Meanwhile, Ghana still has very low 4G coverage and<br \/>\nseveral 4G spectrum licenses are largely dormant, and many may never get<br \/>\ndeployed.<\/p>\n<p>Attempts by some telcos, including Vodafone, to<br \/>\npartner BWAs for the wider deployment of 4G has been prevented by the regulator<br \/>\non two grounds \u2013 alleged lack of regulatory framework for such partnership, and<br \/>\nto prevent telcos from entering the 4G space through the \u201cwindow\u201d,<br \/>\nafter MTN had entered through the \u201cdoor\u201d by paying a whopping US$67.5<br \/>\nmillion for their 4G license. <\/p>\n<p>Fibre cuts<\/p>\n<p>The Vodafone CEO was also worried after they have<br \/>\nbeen compelled to make all the heavy investments into deploying the service,<br \/>\nrampant fibre cuts also rears its ugly head and disrupts their service quality,<br \/>\ncreates additional operation cost for them, damages their reputation and<br \/>\neventually attracts regulator sanctions.<\/p>\n<p>She said Vodafone has an effective<br \/>\nperformance-related strategy between them and their vendors to ensure proper<br \/>\nprotection of their underground fibre and cables, but the state needs to also<br \/>\nbe interested in protecting telecom infrastructure just as they are in<br \/>\nprotecting water and electricity infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is sad that when people damage water pipes<br \/>\nand electricity cables in the course of any construction, they are required to<br \/>\nrepair it by themselves, but when people damage telecom fibre and cable, it is<br \/>\nthe affected telco that fixes the fibre. That situation needs to change.\u201d<br \/>\nshe said.<\/p>\n<p>Apart from thieves who steal cables, the Vodafone<br \/>\nCEO said most of the fibre cuts are caused by government road contractors and<br \/>\nprivate real estates developers, but very often, these people get away with it<br \/>\nand the telco is left to face the brunt of it.<\/p>\n<p>She said Vodafone does have microwave infrastructure<br \/>\nthat carry the network quite well, but fibre is high speed and carries a lot of<br \/>\ndata, and even the Communications Ministry agrees that it should be treated as<br \/>\na National Security asset but that is get to happen. <\/p>\n<p>Patricia Obo-Nai believes if National Security makes<br \/>\nit their business to protect telecom infrastructure and lift that operational<br \/>\ncost from the telcos, it will go a long way to benefit the general public in<br \/>\nterms of better quality of service and even affordable services.<\/p>\n<p>NCR<\/p>\n<p>Dean of NCR, Charles Benoni Okine assured the<br \/>\nVodafone CEO that NCR is willing and ready to create the platform for a<br \/>\nnational discourse on policies affects the industry in ways that benefit all<br \/>\nstakeholders.<\/p>\n<p>He believes journalist has a role to play in shaping<br \/>\npolicy for the betterment of the country, adding that NCR exist for that<br \/>\npurposes, particularly with regards to the telecoms and ICT industry.<\/p>\n<p>The Dean however express the hope that industry<br \/>\nplayers would show commitment to building the capacities of journalists to<br \/>\ncontinue to play their roles more effectively<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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\u00d75MHz spectrum lot in the 800MHz band, which they acquired at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":756244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-756243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>We need more 4G spectrum already - Vodafone - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/12\/02\/we-need-more-4g-spectrum-already-vodafone\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"We need more 4G spectrum already - Vodafone - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"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. 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