Ghana has recorded the strongest year-on-year improvement of any African country in the Global System for Mobile Communications Association’s (GSMA) 2025 digital index assessments, with two landmark policy reforms identified as the primary drivers of the country’s rise.
The findings were presented on March 2, 2026, by Kalvin Bahia, Senior Director of Economics at GSMA Intelligence, during the GSMA Ministerial Programme at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain. Bahia highlighted Ghana as the highest-improving country in Africa across the composite framework of the Digital Nations and Society Index (DNSI) and the Digital Policy and Regulatory Index (DPRI).
Ghana now ranks among only five African nations to have crossed a composite score of 50 percent, a threshold the GSMA associates with more advanced and enabling digital ecosystems.
The DNSI measures how deeply digital technologies have been adopted by consumers, businesses, and governments, while the DPRI evaluates the quality and effectiveness of a country’s digital policy and regulatory environment.
Two reforms drove Ghana’s ascent. The first was the abolition of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) in 2025, which the GSMA directly linked to increased mobile money usage, higher digital transaction volumes, reduced cash dependence, and stronger consumer trust in digital payments. The GSMA had previously warned that the E-Levy risked stifling the progress of the digital economy and pushing consumers back to cash. Its removal reversed that trajectory and lifted Ghana’s DNSI score, particularly in digital financial inclusion indicators.
The second reform was the extension of technology-neutral spectrum licensing to all telecom operators in 2025. By allowing operators to repurpose existing spectrum bands at 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2100 MHz for advanced mobile broadband services, Ghana improved network quality and 4G expansion, reduced regulatory distortions, and strengthened investor confidence. This directly improved the country’s DPRI score in regulatory design and market competitiveness.
A statement from the Ministry of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation said Ghana’s 2025 performance demonstrated the measurable impact of regulatory reform and the value of evidence-based policymaking aligned with market realities.
Despite 99 percent 4G network coverage nationally, a 62 percent usage gap persists, meaning millions of Ghanaians who can access mobile internet are not yet using it, leaving significant adoption potential unrealised. Device affordability remains a structural barrier, with smartphones costing the equivalent of 27 percent of monthly gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, rising to 76 percent for the poorest 40 percent of the population.
The government said its continued focus on regulatory modernisation, infrastructure flexibility, and inclusive digital finance is expected to consolidate Ghana’s gains in future GSMA index editions.
