GHANA’S UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND

Infrastructure sharing:

Challenges and

Opportunities

OVERVIEW OF GIFEC

The Fund was launched in November, 2004. However,

operations of the Fund started in January 2005.

The Electronic Communications Act, 2008, Act 775

provides the legal framework (mandate) for the activities

of the Fund.

NEED FOR SHARING

Market conditions that make tower sharing more likely are:

• Mature networks: Network maturity is a very important aspect that drives tower sharing.

• Growing market: Growing markets mean an ever-increasing need to expand network for the operators.

• High cost regional/rural areas still being rolled out: Operators tend to have a rollout obligation as part of their licenses.

• New entrants looking to build scale: Because towers take time to build, new entrants can increase their speed of network rollout by sharing towers with existing operators

• Pressure on costs: In an increasingly competitive market, low cost is the key to profitability, and operators can save on Capex and Opex by sharing towers.

Telecoms infrastructure for operators

primarily consists of:

GIFEC has classified sharing broadly into five

categories:

• Site sharing.

• Mast (tower) sharing.

• RAN sharing.

• Network roaming.

• Core network sharing.

Benefits of shared infrastructure

• Infrastructure spending: Allows operators to cut down on capital expenditure. Infrastructure cost for operators is estimated to decline by 16% to 20%.

• Network operation cost: Results in rationalisation of operational cost due to reserves produced by sharing site rent, power and fuel expenses

• Focus on QoS service and innovation: Alleviates pressure of network rollout and cost management from operators, allowing them to focus on customer service in a highly competitive and customer-centric industry.

• Lower entry barrier: Active and passive infrastructure sharing will result in lower entry barriers, allowing smaller players to penetrate the market.

GIFEC SHARED SITES

GIFEC as at now has 38 Common Telecoms Facilities

nationwide presently.

Rural Telephony: 51 operational sites

Satellite Hub

Solar Powered Cell Site- Botoku GIFEC CTF at Welembelle

Other Interventions

112 Emergency Centers(Accra, Kumasi, Ho and Takoradi)

Conclusion

Significant investments and efforts are being done to

support operators and other ISPs to deploy into

unserved and underserved communities.

WAY FORWARD

Adopt more Public, Private, Partnerships (PPPs) in

developing the necessary communications infrastructure

for the country

Improve collaboration with key stakeholders particularly

the Telcos, ISPS and the Ministry

Address Policy and Regulatory bottlenecks to improve

rural connectivity.