3G MOBILE POLICY: THE CASE OF GHANA This case has been prepared by Chris Addy-Nayo, Consultant, WorldSpace, <[email protected]>. Thanks to Deepak Gupta of ArtofCommunications for his contribution on the Market trends for 3G Telephony. 3G Mobile Policy: The Case of Ghana is part of a series of Telecommunication Case Studies produced under the New Initiatives Programme of the Office of the Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The 3G case studies programme is managed by Lara Srivastava <[email protected]> and under the direction of Ben Petrazzini <[email protected]>. Other country case studies on 3G, including Sweden, China, Hong Kong SAR, Chile, Venezuela and Japan, can be found at <http://www.itu.int/3g>. The opinions expressed in this study are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Telecommunication Union, its membership or the Ghanaian Government. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................5 2 Summary of the general status of mobile licensing in Africa....................................................5 3 Telecommunications in Ghana ..................................................................................................7 3.1 Historical overview .........................................................................................................7 3.2 Fixed phone network.......................................................................................................7 3.3 Cellular (mobile) phone network ....................................................................................9 3.4 Reforms and the state of the telecommunication industry ..............................................9 3.5 Internet connectivity......................................................................................................10 3.6 Telecommunications and economic development.........................................................11 4 Market trends for third-generation telephony..........................................................................11 4.1 GSM market indicators .................................................................................................12 4.2 Market for mobile multimedia services.........................................................................13 4.3 SMS usage in Ghana .....................................................................................................13 4.4 Internet usage in Ghana.................................................................................................13 5 Licensing regimes in Ghana ....................................................................................................14 5.1 Overview of the license regime in Ghana .....................................................................15 5.2 Licensing of networks ...................................................................................................15 5.3 Spectrum licensing in Ghana.........................................................................................16 6 Other regulatory issues for 3G.................................................................................................16 6.1 Current roaming agreements .........................................................................................16 6.2 Price regulation .............................................................................................................18 7 Future prospects for 3G in Ghana............................................................................................20 7.1 The infrastructure of the Information Highway ............................................................20 7.2 Internet and mobile telecom as the prototype of the Information Highway..................20 7.3 Applications ..................................................................................................................21 7.4 Content development.....................................................................................................21 8 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................21 ANNEX 1: Ghana socio-political profile .........................................................................................24 ANNEX 2: Links to relevant websites..............................................................................................26 FIGURES Figure 2.1: Five-year statistics of fixed-line growth............................................................................8 Figure 3.1: Internet subscribers by categories ..................................................................................14 TABLES Table 2.1: National information and communication infrastructure 1995-1999 ................................7 Table 2.2: Five-year financial growth statistics of Ghana Telecom ...................................................9 Table 3.1: Biggest GSM markets in Africa (in thousands)...............................................................12 3 Table 5.1: Scancom network of global roaming partners .................................................................17 BOX Box 4.1: Commercial arrangement between Ghana Telecom and mobile operators........................19 4 1 Introduction Third Generation is the generic term used for the next generation of mobile communications systems. 3G systems will provide enhanced services to those - such as voice, text and data - predominantly available today. The technology concepts for 3rd Generation systems and services are currently under development industry-wide. 3G is based on today's GSM1 standard, but evolved, extended and enhanced to include an additional radio air interface, better suited for high speed and multimedia data services. GSM is an established global standard for mobile communications. As a technology, GSM continues to evolve, with high-bandwidth services becoming a reality for the current 2nd Generation technologies. The GSM network will evolve, with wireless, satellite and cordless systems offering greatly expanded services, including high speed, multi-media data services, in-built support for parallel usage of such services and seamless connection with the Internet and wireline networks. This will see the true convergence between various communications means and networks becoming a reality. With 3G, communications have moved from the traditional voice kiosk to a data hypermarket thus making the Internet accessible through mobile devices. The result will be a mobile Internet that allows point-of-sale transactions and location-based services in a way that differs completely from today's Internet. 3G will bring a host of mobile services, which will bring more information and more efficiency. One of the great things about GSM is that the sheer volume of what's being manufactured and sold has enabled costs for operators to come down to a level where they can run profitably. This has brought telephony - specifically GSM second-generation technology to areas that otherwise have no services, especially in Africa which means there are millions of people who have made their first calls - in fact, their only calls - on wireless and in most cases GSM wireless. 3G will develop as islands of coverage, which will begin in the developed world and gradually spread to more rural areas within developing countries. The technology will provide the types of data communications and multimedia applications that otherwise will not be available with fixed-landlines. This system will enable users of current 2nd Generation GSM wireless networks to migrate easily to the new 3rd Generation services, with minimal disruption. The development path into the 3rd Generation is clearly mapped out and brings with it possibilities for new age data and multi-media applications in critical need by developing countries. Better, fast and instant telecommunications is behind the worldwide globalisation process. Even though certain progress has been made in the Ghanaian telecom sector in the past, the lack of foresight and good policies have deprived the economy of the maximum benefits it could have derived from the introduction of new telecommunications technologies especially mobile telephony. The sector needs to be analysed, with new policies, programmes and projects designed to position it to take advantage of the opportunities provided by new technologies such as 3G. 2 Summary of the general status of mobile licensing in Africa Licensing is a relatively new development in many telecommunications markets in Africa. Historically, state-owned incumbent operators provided telecommunication services on a monopoly basis in most markets. Telecommunications operators were treated as part of public administration along with postal services and licenses were not considered as necessary. In many cases licenses for incumbent telecommunications operators were prepared as part of the privatisation process. With fixed-line infrastructure across much of Africa in disrepair, telecommunication services need to come in the form of GSM networks. The market's potential for GSM is clear from the significant progress over the past 12 months. At the end of 1999 there were almost 6 million subscribers in the region. By year-end 2000 the figure had risen to just over 10 million. In addition, the number of GSM networks continues to increase