Economic challenges threat to telecoms industry — Kwaku Sakyi-Addo

The current macro-economic challenges in the country are posing serious threats to the sustainability of the telecom industry in Ghana, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunication, Mr Kwaku Sakyi-Addo has said.

He said the industry had been hit with many challenges, key among them being the high energy tariffs which contributed around 60 per cent of the industry’s operating cost.

Mr Sakyi-Addo said this at the “Thought leadership breakfast forum” which was organised to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Telecoms Chamber.

Another challenge, he said, was the depreciation of the cedi, stating that “our revenues are in cedi but our investments involve foreign exchange so there is no doubt the depreciation of the cedi over the past years has affected the industry.

He said operators had also invested in 3G technology throughout district capitals, but in many of those places, “the monthly revenue is a tiny fraction of the running cost, not even to talk about the capital investments”.

Mr Sakyi-Addo also pointed out that throughout the last five years, inflation in communication services had been the lowest in the non-food category, adding that while the cost of inputs in the industry rose sharply, the structure of the market and the nature of competition held the industry back from sharing those costs.

“That is great for our customers in the short-term but such a situation raises serious risks for business sustainability in the long-term and for the industry as a whole ultimately. It doesn’t matter whether you are wholly or partly owned by foreigners or locally owned,” he explained.

Opportunities

Mr Sakyi-Addo said he was however optimistic that despite these hurdles and obstacles, there were still many prospects for the industry.

He said opportunities existed for growth, especially in the mobile financial services and electronic payment sectors.

“There are opportunities for government to make strategic policy decisions that will enable mobile money to be utilised across sectors for citizens to make payments to government and vice versa,” he stated.

He said the possibilities for the future of telecommunications were immense but was however not automatic that those possibilities would be realised for the maximum benefit of all.

He, therefore, called for policy and regulatory clarity, transparency and predictability, stating that they were fundamental to teasing out the creative juices of innovators and the appetite of investors.

Innovate or perish

A Legal Practitioner, Mr Ace Annan Ankomah, contributing to a panel discussion on the theme: “the telecom industry in Ghana: five years ago, five years from now,” urged professionals to be innovative by applying technology to their professions or perish.

He said technology could change in a second and “if you are not up to the scratch you will be left behind”.

Using his profession as an example, he said technology had made the practice of law simpler and easier.

He said technology had made it possible for him to transact business with many clients without even having to meet them  physically.

“Technology comes with its own challenges but imbedded in the challenges are a number of opportunities. You can choose to be Samsung or Kodac,” he stated.