Telecommunications in Ghana include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet. Telecommunications is the main

economic sector One classical breakdown of economic activity distinguishes three sectors: * Primary: involves the retrieval and production of raw materials, such as corn, coal, wood or iron. Miners, farmers and fishermen are all workers in the primary sect ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

according to the statistics of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

due to the Ghana liberal policy around

Information and communications technology Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals) and computer ...

(ICT). Among the main sectors of investments, 65% is for ICT, 8% for communications and 27% is divided for public administration.Statistics of Ghana
"World Bank". Retrieved 6 June 2013.

Freedom of the press

After the overthrow of the elected government by

Jerry Rawlings Jerry John Rawlings (born Jerry Rawlings John; 22 June 194712 November 2020) was a Ghanaian military officer, aviator, and politician who led the country briefly in 1979 and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1993 and then se ...

in December 1981 the

Provisional National Defence Council The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) was the name of the Ghanaian government after the People's National Party's elected government was overthrown by Jerry Rawlings, the former head of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, in a coup ...

repealed the liberal media reforms of previous governments, abolished the Third Constitution and the Press Commission, and passed laws that prevented criticism of the government or its policies, dismissed editors critical of Rawlings or the provisional council, the Preventive Custody and Newspaper Licensing Law which allowed indefinite detention of journalists without trial, and the Newspaper Licensing Law which stifled private media development. Ghanaian press freedom was restored with the promulgation of a new constitution in 1992, presidential and parliamentary elections in November and December 1992, and a return to multiparty democratic rule on 7 January 1993."Ghana – History"
"Country Facts". Retrieved 6 February 2013. The mass media of Ghana is "among the most liberal in Africa",
"Country Facts". Retrieved 6 February 2013. with Ghana ranking as the third freest in Africa and 30th in the world on the ''2013 World Press Freedom Index'' from

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; ; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organisation, non-governmental organization headquartered in Paris, which focuses on safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its a ...

.''2013 World Press Freedom Index''
, Reporters Without Borders, 30 January 2013. Retrieved 15 February 2014. Article 21 of the

Constitution of Ghana The Constitution of Ghana is the supreme law of the Republic of Ghana. It was approved on 28 April 1992 through a national referendum after 92% support. It defines the fundamental political principles, establishing the structure, procedures, pow ...

guarantees freedom of the press and other media,

freedom of speech and expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

thought In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and de ...

, and

information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...

Internet

The

top-level domain A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domain name, domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the DNS root zone, root zone of the nam ...

of Ghana is .gh. Ghana was one of the first countries in Africa to connect to the Internet.Ghana: Internet Usage and Telecommunications Report
''Internet World Stats''. Retrieved 24 April 2013. With an average household download speed of 5.8 Mbit/s Ghana had the third fastest speed on the

African continent Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and the 110th fastest out of 188 countries worldwide in February 2014. In 2009 the number of

Internet users The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a network of networks that consists of private, publ ...

stood at 1.3 million, 93rd in the world. In 2012 the number of Internet users reached 4.2 million (69th in the world) or 17.1% of the population (149th in the world).Calculated using penetration rate and population data fro
"Countries and Areas Ranked by Population: 2012"
, Population data, International Programs, U.S. Census Bureau, retrieved 26 June 2013"Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000–2012"
International Telecommunication Union (Geneva), June 2013, retrieved 22 June 2013 In 2012 there were 62,124 fixed (109th in the world; 0.3% of the population, 156th in the world) and 8.2 million wireless (27th in the world; 33.3% of the population, 49th in the world) broadband subscriptions."Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE,

International Telecommunication Union The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)In the other common languages of the ITU: * * is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for many matters related to information ...

. Retrieved on 29 June 2013."Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012"
Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE,

. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. In 2012 there were 59,086

Internet hosts A network host is a computer or other device connected to a computer network. A host may work as a server offering information resources, services, and applications to users or other hosts on the network. Hosts are assigned at least one network a ...

operating in Ghana, 93rd in the world, and Ghana had been allocated 332,544 IPv4 addresses, 102nd in the world, with less than 0.05% of the world total, and 13.2 addresses per 1000 people. In 2010 there were 165 authorised

Internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, no ...

s of which 30 were operating.''Market Report: Telecommunications in Ghana''
, Nabila Atteneri Benítez Trujillo, Proexca, November 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2013.

Internet censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet

chat rooms The term chat room, or chatroom (and sometimes group chat; abbreviated as GC), is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing. The term can thus mean any technology, ranging from ...

without judicial oversight. Individuals and groups engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail."Ghana"
''Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012'', Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State, 25 March 2013. Retrieved 14 February 2014. While the constitution and law provide for

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

and press, the government sometimes restricts those rights. The police arbitrarily arrest and detain journalists. Some journalists practice

self-censorship Self-censorship is the act of censoring or classifying one's own discourse, typically out of fear or deference to the perceived preferences, sensibilities, or infallibility of others, and often without overt external pressure. Self-censorship is c ...

. The constitution prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government respects these prohibitions in practice. In 2002 the government of Ghana censored Internet media coverage of tribal violence in

Northern Ghana The Northern Region is one of the sixteen regions of Ghana. It is situated in the northern part of the country and ranks as the second largest of the sixteen regions. Before its division, it covered an area of 25,000 square kilometres, representi ...

Radio and television

In 2007 Ghana was served by one state-owned TV station, two state-owned radio networks; privately owned TV stations and a number of privately owned radio stations. International broadcasters and cable and satellite TV subscription services were available. In 2010, there were 140 authorised radio stations with 84 in operation and 32 authorised television stations with approximately 26 in operation. Television broadcasters include First Digital TV (ATV, BTA, FAITH TV, CHANNEL D, STAR TV, FTV, SPORTS 24, CINIMAX, PLANET KIDZ) TV Africa, Metro TV,

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

, GTV, GH One TV and

Viasat 1 Viasat 1 was a Ghanaian television channel owned by the Swedish listed media group, Modern Times Group (MTG). It was replaced by Kwesé Sports in 2016. The channel was awarded a licence from the National Communications Authority of the Republi ...

. The

Ghana Broadcasting Corporation The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) was established by law in 1968 with a triple mandate as a State Broadcaster, Public Service Broadcaster, and a Commercial Broadcaster in Ghana. Headquartered in the capital city, Accra, GBC is funded by g ...

(GBC) founded by decree in 1968 is the

state agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

that provides civilian radio and television services. It was created for the development of the

education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

and

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

sectors and to enhance the knowledge of the people of Ghana. The television industry has increased over this period in the country. There have been a lot of television stations established within the country and whether we like it or not, it has shaped the societies in many ways. The Top 5 TV stations in Ghana according to Green Views Residential Projects are GTV (Ghana Television)
Citi TVUTV
(United Television), TV3, and GH One TV(Ghana One Television).

Telephones

The

prefix code A prefix code is a type of code system distinguished by its possession of the prefix property, which requires that there is no whole Code word (communication), code word in the system that is a prefix (computer science), prefix (initial segment) of ...

of Ghana for

international call An international telephone call is a call between the origination and destination located in different countries. In the public switched telephone network (PSTN), these telephone calls are processed by international gateway exchanges (switches). ...

s is +233."Communications: Ghana"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 28 January 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014. As of 2012 there were 285,000 fixed

telephone line A telephone line or telephone circuit (or just line or circuit industrywide) is a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system. It is designed to reproduce speech of a quality that is understandable. It is the physical wire or oth ...

s in use, 120th in the world, and 25.6 million mobile cellular lines, 42nd in the world. The telephone system has a fixed-line infrastructure concentrated in Accra and some wireless local loop installed, domestic trunks primarily use

microwave radio relay Microwave transmission is the Data transmission, transmission of information by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the microwave frequency range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz (1 m - 1 mm wavelength) of the electromagnetic spectrum ...

. There are 4

Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly Intel-Sat, Intelsat) is a Luxembourgish-American multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons, Virginia, United States. Originally formed ...

(Atlantic Ocean) satellite earth stations.

Microwave radio relay Microwave transmission is the Data transmission, transmission of information by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the microwave frequency range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz (1 m - 1 mm wavelength) of the electromagnetic spectrum ...

links Ghana to its neighbours (2009). The

SAT-3/WASC SAT-3/WASC or South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable is a submarine communications cable linking Portugal and Spain to South Africa, with connections to several West African countries along the route. It forms part of the SAT-3/WASC/SAFE cab ...

, Main One,

GLO-1 The GLO-1 ( Globacom-1) submarine communications cable is a cable system along the west coast of Africa between Nigeria and the UK, owned by Nigerian telecoms operator Globacom. The submarine cable system is 9,800 km long, and became operatio ...

, and

ACE An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

international optical fibre submarine cables provide links to countries along the west coast of Africa and on to Europe and Asia. In 2010 two fixed line and six mobile phone companies were authorised to operate in Ghana of which 5 were operating, 13 satellite providers were authorised of which 8 were operating, 176

VSAT A very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) is a two-way satellite ground station with a satellite dish, dish antenna that is smaller than 3.8 meters. The majority of VSAT antennas range from 75 cm to 1.2 m. Bit rates, in most cases, range from 4 ...

providers were authorised of which 57 were operating, and 99 public and private network operators were authorised of which 25 were operating. Authorized telecommunications companies include Mobile Telecommunications Networks (MTN), Vodafone Ghana which purchased Telecom Ghana,

Tigo Millicom International Cellular SA is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider operating in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. Its main shareholder is Xavier Niel, a French billionaire who owns 40% of ...

which replaced Mobitel (Millicom International Cellular),

Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational Telecommunications in India, telecommunications company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. ...

and Zain which acquired Western Telesystems Ltd (Westel), Glo Mobile Ghana Limited, and Expresso Telecom which acquired Kasapa Telecom. In 2017, Tigo Ghana and Airtel Ghana merged to form AirtelTigo. Competition among mobile-cellular providers has spurred growth, with a mobile phone teledensity in 2009 of more than 80 per 100 persons and rising. The cost of mobile phones is increased by taxes of around 38%. The Ghana's telecom market has undergone several changes in recent years, following the privatisation of the incumbent telco Ghana Telecom and its rebranding as Vodafone Ghana. Two of the key players merged to form AirtelTigo in 2017, though in mid-2020 the parent companies of the operator decided to exit the market. The sale and transfer of AirtelTigo to the state was completed in November 2021. According to the Ghana Telecom Services Market Reports, the telecom services market size in Ghana was valued at $1.9 billion in 2022. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.1% during the forecast period, 2022–2027. Initiatives such as Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Projects and Smart City Project will be driving the telecom sector in the country. The reports shows the leading telecom Companies in Ghana; MTN Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, AirtelTigo Ghana and Glo Ghana. As the telecommunication giant in the county, MTN Ghana is on course to expand and improve its network by 2025 with $1 billion investment. This will go a long way to improve the telecommunication services in the country.

Covid-19 impact

COVID-19 pandemic had a negligible impact on the Ghana telecom industry that brought about change in the industry. In March 2020, business hours broadband consumption has increased, as the country adjusted to life with COVID-19. The telecom sector witnessed growth in weekday viewership, movie rentals and purchases. Live viewing is increased by 15% and free video-on-demand is increased by 25% during the week as more people were in lock-down staying at home. Ghana Telecom Market has witnessed strong growth in recent years and is expected to have continued growth over the forecast period to 2025. The growth in the industry is mainly due to increasing urban population with rising adoption of the mobile phones that supports 3G, 4G and 5G services across the country. Telecom sector is further expected to have strong growth over the forecast period with rising adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) in the sector that connects with wired and wireless broadband.

References

* *

External links

Ghana Internet Exchange
(GIX), website.
Ghana Internet Service Providers Association
(GISPA), website.
National Communications Authority
(NCA), website. {{Internet censorship by country