Canal Plus has announced plans to roll out fibre broadband in Ghana, and predictably, there’s been plenty of excitement. Sector minister Samuel Nartey George has praised the move as potentially game-changing, promising faster speeds and more choices for consumers. But here’s the thing: excitement doesn’t automatically translate into better outcomes.
Appiah Kusi Adomako, a competition economist and West African Regional Director of CUTS International, is urging Ghanaians and policymakers to pump the brakes on celebration and start asking harder questions. Yes, the announcement sounds promising. But Ghana’s telecom history is littered with promising announcements that didn’t fundamentally change market dynamics or consumer experiences.
The central issue? Competition isn’t a one-time event where a new player enters and everything magically improves. It’s a continuous process that requires vigilant regulation, consumer awareness, and genuine market pressure. Without that, Canal Plus could simply become another player in a market that still doesn’t deliver real value to ordinary Ghanaians.
So what should consumers and regulators actually be scrutinizing? Adomako has laid out seven critical questions that cut through the hype and get to what really matters.
Will internet bills actually drop? New providers usually bring hope for cheaper services, but Ghana’s internet prices have stayed stubbornly high despite multiple competitors. The pattern’s familiar: initial promotional rates that eventually creep back up, or incumbents matching just enough to prevent mass customer flight without truly lowering prices. The question isn’t whether Canal Plus will offer introductory deals but whether its presence will force sustained price reductions across the market.
Will service reliability improve beyond marketing promises? Buffering videos and dropped Zoom calls aren’t just annoyances; they’re economic barriers for businesses and students relying on stable connectivity. Speed on paper means nothing if the network can’t maintain it during peak hours or when it rains. Consumers should demand proof of consistent performance, not just advertised maximums that rarely materialize in real-world usage.
Can customers switch providers without getting penalized? This is where many telecom markets quietly trap consumers. Exit fees, contract penalties, and complicated porting processes effectively lock people into subpar service because switching costs more than enduring poor quality. Adomako’s challenging policymakers to ensure genuine portability, so consumers can vote with their wallets when providers underdeliver.
How quickly will the rollout reach beyond Accra and Kumasi? Nationwide access sounds great at launch events, but rural and peri-urban communities have heard these promises before. Years later, they’re still waiting for infrastructure that urban centers took for granted from day one. The digital divide isn’t just about who has access today but who’ll still be waiting in 2027 while Canal Plus focuses on profitable urban markets.
Does Canal Plus have real capacity to challenge established players? For competition to work, new entrants need both resources and motivation to invest long-term. Is Canal Plus committed to building extensive infrastructure, or is this a cautious market test that could be scaled back if initial returns disappoint? Regulators should demand concrete investment commitments and timeline guarantees, not vague expansion rhetoric.
Can incumbents still use their power to stifle newcomers? Ghana’s telecom market has seen dominant players control infrastructure access, pricing strategies, and content deals in ways that quietly disadvantage competitors. It’s rarely dramatic or obvious, just subtle tactics that make it harder for new entrants to gain traction. Infrastructure sharing requirements, interconnection rates, and access to critical facilities all become battlegrounds where established giants can frustrate challengers without technically breaking rules.
Are Ghana’s competition laws strong enough to handle sophisticated market manipulation? This is where Adomako, speaking as a lawyer, gets particularly pointed. Predatory pricing where incumbents temporarily slash rates to bankrupt competitors before raising them again, abuse of dominant positions, refusals to collaborate with smaller players, these tactics require robust legal frameworks to combat. If Ghana’s competition regime can’t effectively police these behaviors, Canal Plus’s entry might not matter much in the long run.
“This is where we need competition laws that truly protect the consumer,” Adomako noted, highlighting a gap that’s plagued Ghana’s telecom sector for years.
The broader context matters here. Ghana’s broadband market has seen new entrants before, and the results have been mixed at best. Multiple ISPs operate, yet prices remain high relative to regional peers and service quality varies wildly. That suggests systemic issues beyond just needing more competitors, regulatory capture, infrastructure monopolies, or market structures that favor incumbents regardless of new players.
There’s also the question of whether Canal Plus brings genuinely different capabilities or business models. If it’s simply replicating what existing providers offer, competition becomes about marketing rather than innovation. Real market disruption requires either significantly lower costs, superior technology, better customer service, or serving underserved segments that incumbents ignore.
For consumers, the practical takeaway is this: don’t assume Canal Plus’s entry automatically means better service or lower prices. Monitor what actually happens to your bills, service quality, and contract terms over the next year. If you’re not seeing tangible improvements, demand explanations from both providers and regulators about why increased competition isn’t translating into better outcomes.
For policymakers, Adomako’s message is even more pointed. The National Communications Authority needs to move beyond celebrating new entrants and start enforcing the kind of regulatory environment where competition actually functions. That means proactive infrastructure sharing mandates, strict anti-competitive behavior monitoring, and consumer protection rules with real teeth.
The bottom line? Competition isn’t about press releases announcing new market entrants. It’s about daily pressure that forces all providers to continuously improve or lose customers. Ghana’s broadband future depends not on how many companies operate but on whether the regulatory and market environment makes them genuinely compete for consumer business.
Canal Plus’s announcement is news, but it shouldn’t be the end of the story. The real question is whether six months or a year from now, ordinary Ghanaians can point to specific ways their internet experience improved because of this entry. If not, then the excitement was premature, and Ghana’s broadband challenges run deeper than just needing another provider.
