Mobile penetration in Ghana hits 116 percent

Ghana’s mobile voice penetration rate has now hit 115.64 percent as at the end of March this year. This is far above the projections years ago which predicted penetration to be at about 70 percent by the close of 2015.

According to latest figures released by the telecommunications   industry regulator, National Communications Authority (NCA), mobile subscriber base increased from 31,028,253 in February this year to end March at 31,154,420. This represents a marginal growth of 0.41 per cent during the period.

Biggest tele-company

During the period, the country’s biggest telecom company by subscriber base and finance, MTN Ghana, increased its share marginally from 14,113,432 at the end of February to end March with 14,207,778. This represents a positive variance of 0.67 percent and puts MTN’s total market share at 45.60 percent.

For the first time in the year, Glo Ghana joined the gainers as its subscriber base went up from 1,422,113 in February 2015 to end March with 1,481,903. This represents an increase of 4.20 percent. It also translates into a market share of 4.76 percent for March, up from the previous month’s market share of 4.58 percent.

Airtel Ghana again maintained its marginal growth momentum as its subscriber base increased to 3,863,252 at the end of the month under review from the February 2015 figure of 3,808,747, representing an increase of 1.43 percent. As a result, Airtel’s market share of 12.28 percent in February increased to 12.40 percent at the end of March 2015.

Tigo and Expresso

Tigo’s subscriber base also registered an increase from 4,264,078 at the end of February to end March with 4,315,719, representing a 1.21 percent growth. The company’s market share also increased from 13.74 per cent to 13.85 per cent.

Expresso, the smallest telecom firm, made a leap to end March with a subscriber base of 126,202 from the 119,386 subscribers it registered in February. Subsequently, the company’s market share now stands at 0.41 percent during the period.

Vodafone Ghana, however, after seeing a rise in its subscriber base for months, saw a drop for the first time in the year. Its subscriber base decreased to 7,159,566 at the end of March from the February figure of 7,300,497. As a result, Vodafone suffered a dip in its total market share from 23.53 percent in February to 22.98 percent at the end of March.

In a related development, some customers of the telcos continued their agitations for better services, saying they had been denied quality services for long. Against this background, they urged the new Director General of the NCA, William Tevie, to work at ensuring that the quality of service from the telcos is improved to enable them to get value for money.