Mr Selorm Adadevoh
MTN GHANA has announced it is investing $207 million this year into expanding its infrastructure across the country for improved services to customers.
Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh, who disclosed this at an editors’ forum organised recently by his outfit in Accra, said this was the highest investment in 25 years in Ghana.
With a total investment of $6 billion made in Ghana, he said MTN Ghana had installed 4,100 sites over the past 25 years, with 98 percent coverage on 2G/3G nationwide and also 73 percent coverage on 4G.
He also said MTN Ghana was deploying over 400 rural telephony sites to provide coverage to undeserved communities.
This year, the CEO noted that 120 new 2G/3G sites were being installed with 607 new 4G sites while 1,322 sites were being modernised in 5G readiness. He added that packet core capacity was also being upgraded to 525 Gbps.
MoMo Fraud
Mr Adadevoh called for a holistic solution to check mobile money fraud.
Mr Adadevoh stated that telecommunication companies operating in Ghana have unanimously decided to take drastic measures to curb mobile money fraud in the country adding that mobile money fraudsters will now have their numbers and devices blocked across all networks.
According to him, the decision, rolled out about two months ago, will help put a stop to the practice.
“So we have come together as a chamber to say ‘how do we intensify or increase the barriers to fraud?’ And blocking the device across all networks is for us one step to achieve that.
Subsea Data
The MTN CEO further announced a partnership with six other multinationals to build a comprehensive subsea data cable to cater for the African continent and the Middle East region.
He said that had become necessary due to the astronomical growth in demand for internet and data services influenced by Covid-19, which required significant investment to expand its data infrastructure.
Demand for data has grown by about 100% between March 2020 and March 2021 according to MTN Ghana, indicating that current internet infrastructure would soon be outstripped by demand.
The project dubbed ‘2 Africa’ will be one of the world’s largest subsea cable projects with the ability to interconnect Europe, the Middle East, and 21 landing stations in 16 African countries, Ghana inclusive.
The 37,000 km-long undersea cables will boost access to internet in Africa and create capacity for the piloting of 5G internet in Ghana.
5G
To mark its 25th anniversary celebration, Mr Adadevoh said “with permission from the Government, Ghana could be piloting 5G internet services in 2023,” in a move to boost access to data countrywide.
BY Samuel Boadi