At a busy shop in Kumasi, a customer waits while an electronic payment stalls. In a diagnostic centre, medical images await transfer to a specialist. A guesthouse loses a booking when its internet connection drops, while an engineering firm waits for a large design file before it can finish a client’s work. For these businesses, connectivity affects income, customer confidence and the time available to serve the next person.
Now consider what more dependable connectivity could make possible: a retailer keeping stock records and online orders up to date during the afternoon rush; a student joining a practical lesson remotely without repeated interruptions; a logistics company receiving timely updates to organise deliveries; or a small professional firm serving clients elsewhere in Ghana without travelling for every meeting. These are practical opportunities through which Ghana’s 5G investment could improve everyday services and expand the reach of local businesses.
The gains depend on more than speed. A payment terminal needs a connection that remains available. A diagnostic centre needs adequate upload capacity. A hotel needs enough capacity for guests and business systems to work simultaneously. Each needs a service suited to its workload, at a price it can sustain.
Spectrum licensing opens the way for operators to provide these services. Turning that opportunity into economic value requires investment in networks, affordable access and businesses equipped to use connectivity effectively. Ghana’s progress should therefore be measured through fewer disrupted transactions, work completed sooner and customers served more reliably. Those outcomes give the country’s 5G investment a purpose that businesses and the public can recognise.
From spectrum awards to usable services
On 15 July 2026, the National Communications Authority removed the exclusive wholesale 5G rights of Next Gen Infraco Limited, commonly known as NGIC, while preserving the remainder of its licence and spectrum assignment. The amendment opens space for competing deployments while retaining NGIC in the infrastructure landscape.
MTN Ghana’s announcement on 2 October reported an award notice for spectrum in the 700 MHz and 3 GHz bands, with fees totalling US$202 million for 15-year licences. At that announcement, payment obligations and formalities were being finalised, with deployment to follow licence issuance. Graphic Online separately reported Telecel’s award of three 2.3 GHz lots, quoting company confirmation.
An award, an issued licence and an available retail service are different stages. A business still needs installed infrastructure, compatible equipment and a provider able to activate service at its premises. Public reporting should make these stages clear so that businesses can plan against verified availability.
Spectrum fees are one component of operators’ network investment. Radios, transmission infrastructure and power systems require capital expenditure, followed by recurring energy, maintenance and operating costs. Customers face separate calculations: equipment and installation charges they bear, subscription fees and usage charges. Those costs should be assessed against improvements in the customer’s work and earnings.
Coverage must translate into working connections
Coverage describes where a connection may be obtainable; capacity describes how much traffic a network can carry while users compete for it. Lower-frequency spectrum, such as 700 MHz, helps extend reach and penetrate buildings. Wider mid-band allocations provide room for greater capacity, subject to the bandwidth activated, antenna configuration, interference and user conditions.
A business can therefore lie within a coverage area and still experience slow transfers when demand rises. A hotel needs adequate service when guests return in the evening. A commercial district needs capacity when many businesses are trading simultaneously. Installation tests should reflect those conditions and the equipment’s intended location inside the premises.
The NCA’s clarified 70 per cent outdoor mobile-broadband population target for March 2027 is technology-neutral. It should not be read as a guarantee of usable 5G at every premises within that population. Coverage figures need to be accompanied by evidence of experienced performance.
This matters especially for smaller businesses and communities beyond the largest commercial centres. A connection that is nominally available but unaffordable or unreliable cannot support regular use. Deployment policy should assess both network reach and the practical conditions under which customers can participate.
Wireless broadband needs capacity and reliable installation
Fixed wireless access connects premises to a cellular network through installed receiving equipment. It can offer an alternative where fibre installation is costly or slow. Fixed customers, however, share radio capacity with mobile users. Ericsson’s planning guidance considers their combined demand during the busiest periods.
For illustration, twenty businesses simultaneously requiring 20 megabits per second need 400 megabits per second of useful download capacity before mobile traffic and operating headroom. This is a demand calculation, not a measurement of Ghanaian cell capacity. An advertised “up to 100 Mbps” subscription identifies a maximum speed; it does not establish reserved capacity or minimum performance during congestion.
Uploads deserve particular attention. Medical images, engineering files and cloud backups move towards the network. A one-gigabyte file contains approximately 8,000 megabits. At a sustained upload rate of 10 Mbps, its theoretical transfer time is about thirteen minutes; at 50 Mbps, it is under three minutes. Actual transfers take longer when overheads and interruptions are included.
Improvement has economic value when it helps complete work sooner or avoids delays elsewhere. Providers should test reception, select suitable indoor or outdoor equipment and check the customer’s local network. Poor office Wi-Fi can restrict performance even when the external connection is adequate.
Reliability also depends on power and backhaul, the transmission links connecting radio sites to the wider network. A backup subscription may share the primary connection’s mast, transmission route or power dependency. Resilience arrangements must address those shared points of failure.
International lessons for Ghana
Kenya demonstrates the importance of entry costs. In October 2023, Safaricom reduced its 5G router price from KES25,000 to KES9,999 while expanding coverage into selected towns across 35 counties. At an indicative exchange rate for the announcement date, those prices were approximately GH¢1,970 and GH¢790. These are historical comparisons, not current Ghanaian equipment prices.
The announcement shows an effort to lower the adoption barrier, not proof that cheaper equipment produced business growth. Ghanaian packages should combine affordable equipment with installation qualification and transparent usage terms. Instalments may ease cash flow without reducing total cost; allowances and fair-use restrictions can affect whether a package supports daily work.
India offers a model for application testing. Its Ministry of Communications reported 100 5G laboratories in March 2026. Ghanaian universities, operators and businesses could jointly test applications in health, education and logistics against available 4G, fibre or Wi-Fi alternatives. A logistics pilot should measure dispatch delays or completed deliveries, with an operational manager responsible for putting the application into daily use. Laboratory activity alone does not establish commercial success.
The United Kingdom illustrates why performance claims need measurement. Ofcom’s Mobile Matters 2025 found standalone 5G’s average response time about 15 per cent lower than non-standalone, but its connection success rate was also lower: 95.9 against 97.6 per cent. Standalone 5G uses a 5G core, the systems managing connections beyond the radio network; non-standalone builds on existing 4G infrastructure.
These crowdsourced observations were not a controlled technology comparison or a forecast for Ghana. They demonstrate why buyers need several measures together. Faster responses have limited value when an application cannot establish its connection. Ghana should report performance with clear sampling methods and measurement endpoints.
Make investment and accountability practical
Businesses should establish the existing connection’s performance before testing a replacement. A 90-day pilot can measure consultation interruptions, completed transfers or productive hours recovered, alongside the full additional cost of equipment, integration and service.
Consider a hypothetical business generating GH¢3,000 in additional monthly contribution and removing GH¢1,000 of avoidable costs. Contribution means revenue remaining after the variable costs of earning it. With additional operating costs of GH¢1,500, the net monthly gain is GH¢2,500. An initial outlay of GH¢10,000 would have a simple payback of four months, assuming recurring gains and excluding financing and tax. Saved staff time counts only when productively redeployed or translated into an actual saving.
Business associations can aggregate demand from smaller firms, giving providers a clearer basis for installation and capacity planning. Providers should specify minimum performance at qualified premises, restoration targets and remedies for failure. Pilot results should include unsuccessful cases so that investment decisions reflect operating conditions.
The NCA should publish clear award and licence status and independently checked deployment milestones. Coverage reporting should be supplemented with working-hour download and upload performance, responsiveness and availability. Infrastructure-sharing and wholesale access arrangements should also be monitored as competition develops.
Ghana’s service economy will gain when better connectivity enables businesses to serve customers reliably and complete more valuable work. That requires suitable networks, commercially sustainable packages and users equipped to benefit. These outcomes should guide the country’s assessment of its 5G investment.
The author, Prof. Abdul-Rahman Ahmed, is Head of the Department of Telecommunication Engineering at KNUST and founder of Stratfound Consult.