"Ghana Telecommunications Report Q2 2014" now available at Fast Market Research

Ghana's mobile market recorded significantly slower growth in FY13 compared to the two previous years, a sign of increasing market saturation and fewer new subscriber acquisition opportunities. Meanwhile, the country's mobile operators took a hit in their finances from adverse macroeconomic and regulatory factors in 2013, such as the depreciation of the local currency, tax increases and fines for poor quality of service (QoS). These developments will shape operators' strategies in 2014, with high network investments, tariff increases and roll out of more non-voice services among the key trends we expect to see during the year.

Key Data

* The Ghanaian mobile market grew by 1.7% q-o-q in Q413 and 9.4% y-o-y in FY13, compared to 2.9% qo- q and 21% y-o-y in Q412 and FY12 respectively.
* The mobile data market grew by 1% q-o-q in Q413, driven by falling tariffs and availability of low-cost smartphones.
* The fixed-line market contracted by 2.5% q-o-q in Q413 and 5.1% y-o-y in FY13, compared to growth of 3.7% q-o-q and 0.1% y-o-y in Q412 and FY12 respectively.

Full Report Details at
- http://www.fastmr.com/prod/782525_ghana_telecommunications_report_q2_2014.aspx?afid=302

Risk/Reward Ratings

Ghana climbs one place to fourth position on BMI's Risk/Reward ratings table this quarter, behind Nigeria, Angola and South Africa. Ghana scores above the regional average in all four of our ratings categories. The country's lowest rating is in the Industry Rewards category where it is held back by increasing market saturation and strong downward pressure on ARPUs despite the rapid uptake of mobile data services.

Key Trends And Developments

In line with BMI's view of the need for increasing interoperability on m-commerce platforms, in the end of December 2013 the chief executive of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) announced that it will launch a unified mobile banking platform for all bank accounts holders in 2014. The new m-commerce platform, called gh-link and developed in collaboration with e-transact, will allow subscribers to connect to their banks accounts and make payments via their mobile phones. While some banks have already introduced mobile payment systems, gh-link will allow all other banks to join the trend.

Vodafone is spending GHS55mn (US$22.7mn) on network expansion and upgrade projects due for completion by the end of March 2014. The project, which began in November 2013, will see the deployment of 403 new cell sites to boost network quality and coverage. The chief technology officer of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai, said the operator has invested around US$700mn on network expansion since 2009, increasing the number of tower sites on its network from an initial 300 in that year to around 2,000 by 2013. In addition to the deployment of new tower sites, Vodafone is also upgrading the quality of its existing mobile network infrastructure to cope with increase usage and growing demand for mobile data services.

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