Expresso, Tigo Make Gains

By Esther Awuah

Telecom companies, Expresso and Tigo, increased their market shares, according to the latest mobile subscriber rankings released by the National Communications Authority (NCA) for June.

Though the current report shows marginal increase in subscriber base for all the telecom companies, Expresso and Tigo in May recorded decreases of 195,670 and 3,457,427 respectively making their performances in June quite significant.

In the recent rankings by NCA, Expresso and Tigo obtained 227,396 and 3,553,274 subscribers, representing 1 percent and 15 percent of the total market share respectively.

It would be recalled that Tigo, the third ranked mobile company in the telecom sector, has since October 2011 experienced a decline in market share and subscriber base.

However, the company introduced attractive consumer driven offers such as low tariffs and unlimited internet access packages in its quest to increase its subscriber base.
Though Expresso has the lowest market share, it continues to give its new and existing subscribers reasons to be on the network.

Meanwhile, market leader MTN recorded a marginal increase maintaining its position as the market leader with a subscriber base of 10,757,974, representing 46 percent of the total market share.

This represents a 1 percent decline in May despite recording an increase in actual number of subscribers.

Vodafone maintained its second position with a subscriber base of 4,819,700, representing 21 percent of the share.

Airtel increased its subscriber base to 3,021,863, representing 13 percent of the total market share, to place fourth on the table.

New entrant Glo Ghana, which started operations in May 2012, finished the month with 468,508 active subscribers, representing two percent of the market share.

Glo continues to surge forward with attractive products and services.

In June, it recorded 990,566 subscribers, representing four percent of the total market share, to rank fifth in the country’s telecommunication sector.

Cashless Economy Distant - Researcher

Kofi Bentil, IMANI Ghana

By Esther Awuah

A lead researcher and Vice-President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Kofi Bentil says he does not believe the country will experience a cashless economy anytime soon.

He said “efforts being made by Ghana towards a cashless economy will not materialize if illiterates who form the bulk of the informal sector are not given the opportunity to fully benefit.”

A cashless economy is an environment in which money is spent without being physically carried from one person to the other.

The advantages of a cashless economy are enormous; cost of transportation and the threat of carrying huge sums of money will possibly reduce.

According to Mr. Bentil, the various electronic payment platforms geared towards a cash-free society are not user friendly, therefore most rural folks who cannot read or write cannot access them.

He noted that “electronic payment systems that have been introduced do not suite our particular context because majority of the informal sector cannot access or use the platform.

“And if this is not critically looked at, at best we will end up with a cashless society for a certain segment of our population in certain towns and forget about the villages.”

Mr. Bentil disclosed this at the MTN Mobile Money roundtable discussion in Accra.
The programme, which forms part of activities to mark the MTN Mobile Money Month celebrations, was on the theme: “towards building a cashless economy in Ghana – prospects, challenges and way forward.”

He emphasized that “all the electronic platforms including the mobile money service, which have been introduced require pre-registration which is necessary probably because of regulations but the point is that these also constitute the bottlenecks which make it impossible for us to have a truly cashless society.”

He said the way forward is to create a versatile form of electronic platform which will be convenient to use.

“The electronic platforms must be a truly more convenient than cash, until that happens people will continue to rely on cash,” Mr. Bentil indicated.

Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Edward Effah also called for appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks which will strongly support the drive towards a cashless economy via mobile money.

“Central Bank must review regulatory policies that will aggressively promote mobile money to as many people as possible,” he stated.

Ebenezer Asante, MTN Sales and Distribution Executive, in his presentation, indicated that “Mobile money services have transformed the way in which people handle their finances, allowing people to transfer money, make purchase and pay bills with a few key strokes on their mobile phones.”

He added that the service had given millions of unbanked Ghanaians access to banking services and improved the banking culture of both urban and rural population.

He noted that with the right infrastructure, policy, security and cultural resistance and education, Ghana’s drive towards a cashless economy would be feasible.

Expert Explains E-zwich Glitch

Kwame Ansah, Head of Payment System Oversight (BoG)

By Esther Awuah

Kwame Ansah, Head of Payment System Oversight at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), says e-zwich payment system is not functioning as expected because of the lack of infrastructure needed to make it work.

He said, “Unfortunately, the e-zwich has not done well mainly because at the time that BoG was advertising and getting people to be interested in the system, the necessary infrastructure like the point of sale terminals (POSs) and ATMs had not been adequately put in place.”

In 2008, the BOG rolled out the e-zwich, a national payment and settlements system that was meant to create an electronic clearing house for all banking and financial institutions, as well as biometric smartcard for paying for goods and services.

The POS and ATMs across the country were supposed to support the system, but unfortunately the platform encountered challenges due to consumer’s inability to access the POSs.

Mr. Ansah however noted that the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), the body set up to, among other things, set up and operate the national switch with smartcard payment system, had imported some POS devices and ATMs to promote interoperability.

“We are hoping that not too far from now, the e-zwich is going to take off in a better way,” he reiterated.

Mr. Ansah was speaking at the MTN Mobile Money roundtable discussion in Accra.
The programme, which forms part of activities to mark the MTN Mobile Money Month celebrations, was on the theme: “towards building a cashless economy in Ghana – prospects, challenges and way forward.”

Kofi Bentil, Vice-President, IMANI Ghana, sharing his views on the failure of e-zwich said “apart from the occasional technical hiccups with faulty machines, one of the reasons why e-zwich is staggering in its performance is the lack of creative marketing to increase patronage.”

He was hopeful that the platform could be revived with innovative initiatives which will attract consumers.

Ebenezer Asante, MTN Sales and Distribution Executive, in his presentation indicated that “Mobile money services have transformed the way in which people handle their finances, allowing people to transfer money, make purchase and pay bills with a few key strokes on their mobile phones.”

He added that the service had given millions of unbanked Ghanaians access to banking services and improved the banking culture of both urban and rural population.

He noted that with the right infrastructure, policy, security and cultural resistance and education, Ghana’s drive towards a cashless economy would be feasible.

MTN CEO Predicts Cashless Economy

Michael Ikpoki, MTN CEO

By Esther Awuah

An economy in which mobile phone subscribers will use their handsets to transact business is imminent, according to Michael Ikpoki, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana.

Since MTN Mobile Money service was launched in July 2009, about 2 million people have enjoyed the convenience of transacting business without cash, a development the CEO described as the next big thing that will gradually take Ghana towards a cashless economy.

He said, “It has been three years now since MTN Mobile Money was launched and we are quite impressed with the level of interest people have shown in the service. However we believe we can do better at getting more people to use the services and this calls for an intensive consumer education aimed at drawing attention to the importance of Mobile Money service.”

Mr. Ikpoki disclosed this to CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE in an interview at the launch of first ever MTN Mobile Money Month in Accra.

He indicated that MTN will hold engagements with stakeholders and policy makers to drive the right interventions to ensure a cashless economy.

“MTN is committed to supporting the economic development of the country and we believe that the country will benefit immensely if we work towards making Ghana a cashless society.”

The theme for the month-long celebration is “MTN Mobile Money creating a cashless economy with your mobile phone.”

According to the CEO, the launch of the Mobile Money Month is to enable more people know about the importance of the service.

He was confident that “at the end of the month of August more customers would have been hooked on to the service and educated about the many benefits Mobile Money offers and certainly transactions on this platform would see some significant improvements.”

Some activities lined up for the event include a float through some major cities across the country, a public forum and other engagements with MTN subscribers and staff.

Dollar Shortage Hits Banks

By Esther Awuah

Unconfirmed reports reaching Business Guide indicates that there is shortage of foreign currencies, particularly the dollar, in the banks.

Though major banks contacted were tight lipped on the issue, some foreign account holders said they had not been able to withdraw foreign currencies from their accounts.

Since January, the cedi has continued to depreciate against major foreign trading currencies like the dollar.

The Bank of Ghana (BoG) intervened by reintroducing the treasury bills in tenors of 30 days, 60 days and 270 days and a review of the statutory reserve requirement of banks in order to arrest the situation.

However, some financial experts have argued that the measures introduced by the Central Bank would not be able to solve the problem.

A foreign account holder, who pleaded anonymity, told BUSINESS GUIDE that one of the leading banks in the country did not allow him to withdraw $30,000.

Instead, he was asked to withdraw the amount in installments of $10, 000 but when he went for the final part, the bank told him the dollar was scarce and he could not be served.

This development was confirmed by Mohammed Amin, a Forex bureau operator in Accra Central, who said the situation had resulted in further depreciation of the cedi.

He said “as a result of the shortage, the dollar is now selling at GH¢ 2.04 and bought at GH¢2.10, while the pounds is selling at GH¢3.6 and bought at 3.08.”

He stated that forex bureau operators were facing difficulties in obtaining foreign currencies, particularly the dollar because their main sources of supply- banks- do not have enough to sell, adding “so we have to rely on traders from Nigeria and Togo who come to Ghana to do business.”

He acknowledged that even though the situation was encouraging ‘black marketing’ that was the only way they could also stay in business.

Some economic experts have attributed the shortage of major foreign currencies partly to panic among foreign account holders following earlier reports that the BoG was considering converting all foreign currency accounts held by individuals to cedi.

The BoG has blamed forex bureau operators for accepting deposits and engaging in large foreign exchange transactions but Mr. Amin denied the accusations.

He said “these are mere allegations because a forex bureau cannot operate as a bank.”

He said most people in possession of foreign currencies were keeping them rather than sending them to the banks for fear that they might be converted into Cedis.

“The rate at which the cedi is falling against the dollar, I can bet you that GH¢ 1 will go for $ 3 before the year ends,” he predicted.

Ghana, Ivory Coast Border Impasse To Be Resolved

Daniel Gnangni, Director General, Petroci

By Esther Awuah

Daniel Gnangni, Director General of Petroci, the Ivoirian national oil company, says he is optimistic the border dispute between Ghana and Ivory Coast would be resolved within the shortest possible time.

The border dispute between the West African neighbours heightened when an exploration firm Vanco discovered oil in the Dzata-1 deepwater-well for Ghana.

The Ivoirians noted that the oil discovery was within their territorial waters and subsequently petitioned the United Nations in 2010 to complete the demarcation of the maritime boundary between the two countries to forestall any dispute.


The disputed border also covers some parts of the Jubilee oil field which is said to be the largest discovery in West Africa in recent times.

Mr. Gnangni told Ghanaian journalists visiting Abidjan that the two countries had resorted to dialogue to solve the dispute.

He said there had been several meetings between both countries on the issue but there had not been any final agreement.

“What we can rejoice about is that both countries have a fundamental agreement that they will find final resolution to this through dialogue.”

He noted “what I am happy about is that Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are sister countries and our desire is that no matter what wealth we find in our communal boundary, we are hopeful that we are going to sought it out in a peaceful and friendly manner.”

The issue has attracted considerable media interests and international attention with Ghanaian authorities passing the Ghana Boundary Commission Bill into law.

The law subsequently established a commission to determine the country’s land and maritime boundaries, including the disputed area.

In a related development, Mr. Gnangni stated that like Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire was also recording oil production shortfall, as its targeted 80,000 barrels per day had dropped to about 35,000.

He attributed the shortfall to technical challenges, which he said, had been worked on and added that more oil fields were being explored to boost the production level.

He added that the recent political crisis in the country affected the oil industry negatively, as most of its partners had to leave which made it impossible to conduct further exploration.

Ghanaian, Ugandan Journalists Receive Training From Esther Awuah, Kampala, Uganda To develop the capacity of journalists to report effectively and consistently on the extractive industry, Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), in collaboration with its stakeholders, is organizing a training programme for 16 journalists in Kampala, Uganda. RWI, with support from the International Institute of ICT Journalism (Penplusbytes), Thomson Reuters Foundation and African Centre for Media Excellence, will equip the journalists with skills and information to increase the quantity and quality of coverage on oil, gas and mining issues. Eight participants were selected from both countries. Esther Awuah, a journalist with Daily Guide’s Business Desk, is part of the Ghanaian team. The course, which started from May 14 -23, is the third in the series to be organized by RWI. A release from RWI said “In countries where oil, gas or mineral production is new, such asGhanaandUganda, journalists face the additional problem of having little knowledge about the industry and related economic issues.” It noted that many governments and private-sector interests avoid media scrutiny by remaining silent on public interest issues such as royalty and tax agreements, budgets and spending. “Addressing the media’s role in resource-rich countries such as Ghana and Uganda is critical because both nations will soon receive significant revenues from newly-developed oil fields. “To report fairly, accurately and comprehensively, journalists need a sound knowledge of the sector and the ability to analyze and report on its complexities.” It added that helping the media to perform its role more effectively will contribute to using natural resources for the public good.

NCA Faults Tigo

By Esther Awuah

THE NATIONAL Communications Authority (NCA) has challenged Millicom Ghana Limited, operators of Tigo network, for publishing a report contrary to what the former has carried as to network rankings.
In its 2011 report, Tigo maintained that it was still the second leading operator in Ghana despite an earlier report by NCA that Vodafone Ghana was the second leading network.
According to the regulator (NCA), it was the only authority mandated to report on the telecoms industry in the country. Per its 2011 report therefore, Vodafone finished the year as second leading operator with 4.2 million subscribers, representing 20.2 percent market share while Tigo came third with 3.9 million subscribers, representing 18.53 percent of the market share.
NCA also noted in its full year subscriber base report that the total mobile penetration for year ending 2011 was 21.2 million.
However, according to Tigo’s annual report, published on myjoyonline.com, it closed the year with 3.5million subscribers, and not 3.9 million which represented 21.3 percent of the market share.
Tigo’s report also stated that mobile penetration in Ghana was 16.53 million as opposed to the 21.2 million stated by the NCA.
Per Tigo’s report, its 3.5 million subscriber base was 21.3 percent of 16.53 million subscribers which made it the second largest among five operators in Ghana.
A source at NCA, in an interview with this paper, said Tigo could not claim to be the second leading operator because the NCA received monthly reports from the telecom operators in Ghana. Based on these reports, the regulator is able to determine the number of subscribers that each operator has.
The source, who spoke on behalf of NCA, stated that “the authority’s report, among other things, includes the number of active subscribers and the number of churned out registered subscribers.”
The source noted that MTN, the leading operator in the country, had over 10.2 million subscribers which was a well-documented fact; therefore Tigo’s claim of a total subscriber base of 16.53 million was shocking.
According to the report, “Millicom reports to NCA subscribers up to 90 days of activity, according to NCA policy but internally, we report to headquarters up to 60 days of no activity.”
Explaining the foregoing, a highly-placed official at Tigo explained that figures in Tigo’s annual report were based on how many Tigo subscribers were active within the last 60 days up to December 31, 2011, adding that that was different from how many subscribers were active within the last 90 days.
The official further explained that “within 60 days, every subscriber from any other network that makes a call or sends an SMS to a Tigo number, even for once, is captured as an active subscriber for that network. And when we put those figures plus our own subscribers together, we determine the mobile penetration”.
This, according to the NCA official, was not practicable, as an operator could not determine the number of active calls or number of SMS from another operator.

Driver Screws Man's Eye

By Esther Awuah

A road rage between two drivers on the Kaneshie-Mallam Highway in Accra has led to a partial blindness of one of the drivers.
A ‘trotro’ driver, David Asiedu, plying Accra-Twifo Praso route, allegedly stabbed Opoku Darko, another driver, in the eye, over the right of way on the busy Kaneshie-Mallam road on Tuesday, November 22, 2011, damaging one of his eyes in the process.
David has been remanded into police custody by an Accra Circuit court presided over by Judge Doris Bempong when he appeared before the court last Thursday.
The court refused to grant the accused person bail and asked him to reappear on December 21, 2011.
Narrating the incident to DAILY GUIDE, Opoku Darko said he was on his way from Accra to Kasoa on November 22, around 8pm, when upon reaching Odorkor Tipper, a 207 Benz bus was trying to change its lane into his.
He said the 207 bus, driven by the suspect David Aseidu, could not successfully change its lane, thereby hitting the side mirror of his Kia mini truck.
Opoku said when they both got down to assess the extent of damage, Aseidu, without any provocation, pierced his left eye with a screw driver, and ran away, abandoning his vehicle.
According to Opoku, he bled profusely.
Opoku added that “with the help of some passengers in my car, we reported the case to the Odorkor Police who gave me a medical form to take to the hospital, while they headed for the accident scene.
“I was later told the driver absconded from the scene while I was being taken to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital for surgery on my eye.”
He stated that Aseidu, the following day, reported himself to the police and was arrested.
He was later granted bail and processed for court last Thursday.
However, when DAILY GUIDE contacted Aseidu, he denied piercing Opoku’s eye with a screw driver, saying he rather punched him with his fist.
It is not likely that Opoku’s sight can be recovered, according to doctor’s report

Fake Nokia Importers Lose Out

By Esther Awuah

Importers and retailers of fake Nokia phones will from next year fail to reap the benefit of their nefarious business.
This is because the world’s leading mobile phone manufacturer is embarking on a massive sensitization programme to educate Nokia users on the dangers of using fake mobile phones.
The company explained that it wants users to know the health and economic implications of using fake phones.
Ludovic Falcou, Nokia Country Manager in charge of Ghana and Senegal, disclosed this at “Nokia Media Meet and Greet” event held in Accra under the theme: “The dangers of counterfeit Devices.”
Mr. Falcou noted “fake mobile devices are manufactured from substandard component containing dangerous chemicals (lead & mercury) and do not follow safety standards.”
He stated that economically fake phones negatively impact the Ghanaian economy.
“Importers of fake mobile devices typically avoid payment of taxes and levies thus creating huge income losses for the government,” he added.
Mr. Falcou indicated that the development needs to be critically looked at since it is capable of discouraging foreign direct investment as international companies are likely to direct their investment elsewhere.
He advised people to look out for the 12 month Nokia warranty logo on the box when purchasing Nokia phones.
“Beyond this, all genuine Nokia devices purchased in Ghana are covered by a one-year warranty. The Nokia warranty starts from the date of purchase and it guarantees the user of repair at no cost and even replacement in the event of malfunction,” the Nokia boss announced.
He cautioned Nokia users to take full advantage of the numerous applications available on Nokia store including Music, videos, games and navigation, which is only available on genuine Nokia devices.
Osagie Ogunbor, Head of Communications Nokia West Africa, said the use of fake mobile phones is a global problem because most of the users cannot identify genuine ones.
He said Nokia Ghana is going to embark on massive advertising and media campaigns to sensitize Ghanaians on the need to purchase genuine phones.
Nokia is the world’s number one manufacturer of mobile devices in terms of market share.
Beyond its leadership status as a manufacturer of devices, Nokia is fast becoming a leading solutions provider in the converging Internet and communications industries providing internet services that enable users to experience media, messaging, maps and games.