MTN Ghana on Tuesday commercially launched its fourth generation (4G) network, which it hopes will help to “transform” the lives of consumers following successful testing and piloting of the technology within a segment of the market over the past couple months.
The new service, unveiled at a short but colourful ceremony in Accra, makes MTN the only mobile network operator to enter into the premium 4G space — joining three other Internet Service Providers already offering 4G service in the country.
MTN is thus hoping to leverage on its position as the biggest telecom company in the country to cement its stranglehold on the growing data market, by offering consumers arguably the world’s fastest Internet and data communication services at speeds up to 10 times faster than customers on 3G networks.
The Chief Technology Officer of MTN Ghana, Mohammed Rufai, noted that the company has taken a technological leap to deliver seamless data services to consumers in a way that is unmatched by the country’s other mobile network operators — which continue allowing customers to stream large amounts of data over already-jammed cellular networks.
“4G is the latest mobile technology commercially available today. It offers a lot higher speed than what we already have, which enables businesses to run their data services a lot faster and more efficiently. Streaming and downloading videos for entertainment purposes will now be a lot faster,” he said.
The company’s entry into the 4G market however means that MTN must now find a way of ceding at least 35 percent of its ownership to Ghanaian investors as part of requirements for granting the GH?60million 4G licence, which supports and creates Internet-based applications that make voice crispier and clearer. It also allows faster data transfer and captures video in real time, as well as offers limitless other possibilities.
As at the end of the first three months of this year, MTN controlled almost half of the country’s 18.8 million data subscriber market in a country, where data penetration is hovering at around 68 percent.
In the broadband wireless access data segment, where the Internet service providers are offering 4G services, over 101,000 subscribers were recorded by the National Communications Authority (NCA) – the telecom regulator – as at the end of the first quarter, signalling a large unexploited data market segment in Ghana.
According to officials of MTN Ghana, the company has designed an aggressive marketing strategy to make its 4G service available to consumers.
In this regard, the company has unveiled a special team of roaming sales and customer service executives it calls a ‘SWAT team’ to help customers with 4G-compatible handsets upgrade and swap their SIM cards to the new service.
MTN officials are convinced its entry into the 4G space will expand its revenue base, which increased by 15.9 percent over the GH¢1.99billion recorded in 2014 to GH¢2.32billion at the end of last year.
Earlier this year the CEO of MTN Ghana, Ebenezer Asante, explained at a media briefing that the growth in MTN’s revenue position is supported strongly by its data services, which contributed 30.6 percent to the company’s total revenue in 2015, with its EBITDA margin – which tells the company’s core or operating profitability – hitting 40.5 percent and making the company the country’s most profitable telephony operator.
Source: thebftonline