Source: newsthemegh.com
Data costs won’t be impacted by the launch of 5G mobile broadband services, according to Minister of Communications Ursula Owusu-Ekuful.
She claims that because the service uses a shared infrastructure, network operators will pay less for it.
“We don’t expect any corresponding increase in cost of data merely because of the introduction of 5G,” Ursula Owusu told the media on Thursday, May 30, 2024. There is another service available; to use it, you must subscribe to it. You use your current service at the speed determined by your network operator if you wish to continue using it.
“I expect that because this is a shared infrastructure which reduces the cost for the network operators, they will transfer that into better service offerings and it may even lead to a lowering of the cost of delivering that service which will inure to the benefit of subscribers,” she stressed.
“If individual Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) had to build this network themselves, this is a very capital intensive industry and it is very expensive to roll out mobile networks infrastructure and that is why government took a strategic decision to use a shared infrastructure network company to deliver this service.” she added.
“If individual Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) had to build this network themselves, this is a very capital intensive industry and it is very expensive to roll out mobile networks infrastructure and that is why government took a strategic decision to use a shared infrastructure network company to deliver this service.”
Ghana’s government has declared that it is working with other industry players to develop a new shared infrastructure that would enable the nation to offer reasonably priced 5G mobile broadband services.
The Next-Gen Infrastructure Company (NGIC) has been founded by the partners, which also include two other mobile network providers, AT Ghana and Telecel Ghana, as well as Ascend Digital, K-NET, Radisys, Nokia, and Tech Mahindra.
Ghana’s first 5G license has been granted to NGIC, which will construct and run the country’s 4G/5G network.