Fixed voice telephony on the decline

The total number of fixed voice telephony in the country is on a consistent decline, reflecting the dominance of mobile telephony in the system.

As at the end of April 2016, the total subscriptions for the fixed operators stood at just 256,924 representing a percentage decrease of 0.62 per cent from the previous month’s figure of 258,536 subscribers. 

For almost two decades, only two operators have been licensed to provide fixed line services in Ghana. These operators are Vodafone Ghana Limited and Airtel Ghana. According to figures from the National Communications Authority (NCA), Vodafone’s total subscriber base went down from 250,546 in March to 248,819 in April, while Airtel ended the same month with 8,105 subscribers from 7,990 subscribers in March. 

Analysts have described the phenomenon to the increase in the use of mobile phones in the country. According to them, in a few years to come, the number will diminish but maintained that it will not be extinct.

Mobile Data 

At the end of April 2016, total subscribers of cellular mobile data in the country stood at 18,605,236 with a penetration rate of 67.29 per cent for the month under review. Meanwhile, out of the six operators in the country, only one, MTN maintain marginal gains in terms of subscribers. The five others lost grounds in what is yet to be explained.

Gainer

MTN was the only gainer in the month under review. Its mobile data subscribers for April 2016 went up to 9,163,083 as against the  March figure of 9,066,405. This also resulted in the increase in its market share for the month under review to 49.25 per cent as against March which stood at 48.19 per cent. 

Losers

The total number of subscribers for Vodafone’s mobile data dropped from 3,390,27 in March  to 3,334,093 in April. The drop also affected in its market share which dipped from 18.02 per cent in March to 17.92 per cent in the period under review.  

Airtel’s mobile data subscribers for April 2016 stood at 3,048,954. That for March the same year was 3,177,620. The company’s market share for the month of April stood at 16.39 per cent as against 16.89 per cent for the month of March. 

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In the same period under review, tiGO’s data subscribers dropped marginally from 2,707,411 in March to 2,703,106 in April. tiGO’s market share for the period stood at 14.53 per cent. 

Glo also suffered a dip in its subscriber numbers as the figure fell from 325,987 at the end of March 2016 to 312,746 at the end of April 2016. This reflects a market share of 1.68 per cent in April, down from 1.7 per cent in March. 

Expresso’s mobile data subscriber figures, which at 44,136 at the end of March, fell to 43,254 at the end of April. However, its market share stayed same at 0.23 per cent for the month under review. 

Broadband

For Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) Subscription , as at the end of April 2016, the total number of subscribers for data was 93,351. In this area, Surfline’s subscriber base was 65,378, making it the dominant palyer. Blu Ghana’s subscriber figure was 1,343,  while broadband home subscriber base stood at 26,630.