Ghana’s telecom regulator this week announced that four companies have applied to take part in its upcoming digital dividend spectrum auction.
The country’s mobile market leader MTN is on the list via its Scancom unit, as are wireless broadband players Surfline Communications and Goldkey Telecom, the National Communications Authority (NCA) revealed. The fourth would-be bidder is an entity known as Migson Communications.
The regulator said it will assess the eligibility of the four before inviting them to participate in the auction.
The NCA has 2×30 MHz of 800 MHz spectrum at its disposal as a result of the digital switchover in Ghana, but at this stage it plans to sell off two licences of 2×10 MHz each, noting that it will free up the remaining frequencies "in due course".
Each 15-year licence will carry a reserve price of US$67.5 million.
The auction is due to start on 18 November with the winners announced a week later.
The auction rules state that bidders must be registered under Ghanaian law and have a minimum 35% Ghanaian ownership, or commit to meeting that threshold within 13 months of the licence date.
The NCA’s documentation shows that many of Ghana’s major mobile operators – which, in addition to MTN, include Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Millicom – responded to its consulta tions regarding the 800-MHz sale, but do not appear on the list of would-be bidders.
According to the regulator’s latest statistics dated end-June, MTN dominates the Ghanaian mobile market with a 46% share of its 32.36 million customers.
Vodafone is some way behind but a comfortable second with 22.55% of the market, while Millicom’s Tigo and Airtel rank third and fourth with 13.87% and 12.71% respectively.
Smaller player Glo has a market share of 4.47%, while Expresso has just 0.41%.
