Ghana has fewer than 40,000 5G-enabled devices in circulation, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications revealed Tuesday, raising serious questions about the viability of aggressive rollout targets without corresponding device penetration.
Sylvia Owusu-Ankomah made the disclosure at an industry forum, where she called on the National Communications Authority (NCA) to strengthen policy clarity, provide clear 5G timelines, and create a more predictable regulatory environment to sustain investor confidence in the sector.
She warned that delays in policy direction could widen Ghana’s technological gap further, noting the country is already several years behind in the 5G transition. Without clarity on rollout timelines and spectrum allocation, she said, operators cannot plan effectively.
“Digital infrastructure must become part of our building requirements,” Owusu-Ankomah said, advocating for fibre connectivity and smart infrastructure to be embedded in housing and construction standards in the same way electricity and water systems currently are.
Beyond 5G, she pointed to a growing disconnect between coverage and actual usage. Despite widespread 4G coverage, many network sites remain underutilised. She attributed this largely to limited access to affordable smart devices and called for targeted incentives to improve internet-enabled phone penetration. Infrastructure without accessible devices, she argued, produces a usage gap that undermines the value of investment already made.
On regulation, Owusu-Ankomah cautioned that frequent regulatory changes, additional fees, or shifting licensing conditions could disrupt business models and deter further capital commitment. Telecommunications investments are long-term by nature, she explained, requiring stable and predictable policy environments for operators to commit resources with confidence.
She also commended the NCA for meaningful progress in recent years, citing mobile number portability, infrastructure sharing, and tower co-location policies as interventions that have reduced duplication, lowered costs, and expanded network coverage. She described the NCA as one of the more progressive regulators in the region.
The Chamber CEO concluded with a call for deeper collaboration between regulators and industry players, stressing that the gains of recent decades were built on cooperation and that the next phase of Ghana’s digital growth demands even greater alignment between policy and investment.
