The National Communications Authority (NCA) of Ghana has praised AT Ghana (Airtel and Tigo) for its exemplary response to the subsea cable cuts on March 14, which impacted nine countries in West and South Africa.
NCA Director-General Dr. Joe Anokye commended AT Ghana for its swift and effective actions. “AT Ghana’s proactive measures enabled them to quickly shift services to unaffected cables, restoring connectivity within hours, while competitors faced several days of downtime,” Dr. Anokye said.
The outage disrupted multiple internet connectivity providers, including Seacom, ACE, MainOne, and the West African Cable System (WACS), affecting internet service providers and financial institutions reliant on these connections from Europe to South Africa.
AT Ghana’s investment in network redundancy allowed it to secure additional capacity on the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), shielding its subscribers from the widespread outage. This resilience resulted in a significant increase of over 95,000 new customers in March 2024. AT Ghana is the third largest mobile operator in Ghana, after Scancom Plc (MTN Ghana) and Ghana Telecoms (Vodafone Ghana).
Dr. Anokye also highlighted the NCA’s regulatory flexibility, which facilitated AT Ghana’s rapid customer onboarding, including expedited SIM card registrations. This support enabled many new subscribers to complete their registration processes quickly.
The NCA chief used AT Ghana’s performance to illustrate the benefits of substantial network investments, contrasting it with larger competitors like MTN Ghana. MTN has invested over $6 billion since entering the Ghanaian market and plans an additional $1 billion investment through 2025 to enhance coverage and expand its customer base. Dr. Anokye noted MTN’s early 3G rollout as a key factor in its acquisition of over one million customers within a year.
Addressing market dominance and pricing issues, Dr. Anokye reaffirmed the NCA’s commitment to preventing monopolistic practices and ensuring a competitive telecommunications landscape in Ghana. He also acknowledged the NCA’s ongoing efforts to address data pricing concerns.
On operator transparency, Dr. Anokye praised MTN Ghana for its regular public financial disclosures, noting a contrast with the less transparent reporting practices of other operators such as Vodafone, Airtel, Tigo, Glo, and Expresso. He recognized the challenges in accessing comprehensive data from these competitors, which complicates public and media oversight of their operations in Ghana.
