Disparities discovered in wireless penetration in
Ghana
Accra, Sept. 30, Ghanadot/GNA –
Documents available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) reveal
disparities in the number of active mobile phone
subscriptions in the country.
The National Communications Authority (NCA), in its first
quarter report for 2009, placed wireless penetration at 55
per cent of 24 million Ghanaians, but statistics from other
sources are different.
Millicom Ghana has published on its website,
www.millicom.com, that wireless penetration in Ghana is 47
per cent, citing interconnectivity activities between
operators as its “authentic” source of information.
Tigo also used a 24 million population size as its baseline
and said its market share was 25.7 per cent and not 22 to 23
per cent as quoted by other sources.
The NCA’s 55 per cent penetration, for the first quarter,
meant there were 13.2 million active wireless subscribers in
Ghana at the close of March 2009, out of which MTN had 6.8
million (51.5 per cent), Tigo 2.9 million (22 per cent),
Vodafone 1.7 million (13 per cent), Zain 697,000 (5.3 per
cent) and Kasapa 380,162 (three per cent).
The total figure of 12,473,413 is actually 94.5 per cent of
the 13.2 million subscribers derived from NCA’s 55 per cent
penetration.
Tigo’s 47 per cent of 24 million people meant there were
11.28 million subscribers bringing its 25.7 per cent market
share to 2,896,251, which is exactly what Tigo quoted on its
website.
From Tigo’s figure of 11.28 million, MTN’s 6.8 million comes
to 60.3 per cent and yet the NCA’s figures placed MTN’s
share at 54 per cent, even though from computation based on
the NCA’s 55 per cent, MTN’s share came to 51.5 per cent.
Based on Tigo’s figure, Vodafone’s 1.7 million comes to 15
per cent, which is different from the 13 per cent quoted by
NCA.
Obviously the figures from Zain and Kasapa also showed
similar disparities in terms of their market shares.
Another source quoted that Ghana’s population was 24.32
million out of which MTN had 6,777,000 subscribers, Tigo
2,875,740; Vodafone, 1,786,000; Zain, 697,000 and Kasapa,
380,162, by the end of March 2009.
Out of the total of 12,515,902 quoted by a third source, MTN
had 54.1 per cent market share, which is close to what the
NCA quoted for MTN, but did not tally with NCA,s own 55 per
cent penetration.
Tigo’s market share comes to 22.98 per cent, about two per
cent less than what Tigo claimed for itself and one per cent
higher than the NCA’s figure.
Vodafone had 14.3 per cent, which is about one per cent less
than what Tigo gave it and 1.3 per cent more than what NCA
quoted.
Zain’s share came to 5.6 per cent, 0.3 per cent more than
what the NCA reported (5.3 per cent) and about 0.7 per cent
less than what Tigo reported.
Kasapa’s market share came to three per cent; not much
different from what both the NCA and Tigo reported.
Mr. Joshua Peprah, Director, Regulatory and Administration
at the NCA, told GNA that subscription figures quoted in the
NCA report was based on the 90-days report submitted to the
authority by the operators in the industry.
Meanwhile some of the operators confided in the GNA that
active subscription figures were over-bloated due to
parallel reporting resulting from more than a network
capturing a particular subscriber who might have left a
network for another within the three month reporting period.
The operators admitted that there was no uniform standard
for measuring the number of active subscribers, because each
of them used different software, for security reasons and
ended up using different methods, which impacted on the
final results.
GNA
