The Government of Ghana has officially abandoned its initial 5G rollout strategy, approving a new open spectrum auction model set for 2026 after the previous wholesale infrastructure approach failed to deliver expected results.
Under the revised plan, the state will open 5G spectrum to competitive bidding instead of relying on a single wholesale operator model previously assigned to Next-Gen InfraCo (NGIC).
In 2024, NGIC was granted an exclusive 10-year licence to build and manage a shared national 5G network. However, rollout progress stalled significantly, with reports indicating that the company deployed only 49 active sites, struggled with licence payments estimated at $125 million, and ultimately lost its exclusivity in February 2026.
Government officials say the new auction framework is designed to increase competition, improve service delivery, and ensure that allocated spectrum is actively utilised rather than left idle.
The policy shift also reflects lessons from Ghana’s 2015 4G spectrum auction, where high pricing limited participation to only MTN Ghana, leading to reduced market competition and slower sector expansion.
Authorities now say the focus will shift from revenue maximisation to infrastructure deployment and service quality, with the goal of ensuring simultaneous 5G rollout across multiple operators.
However, concerns remain over market dominance, as MTN Ghana currently controls an estimated 79% share of the mobile internet market with over 22 million users. Regulators fear that poorly structured auction rules could further entrench this dominance instead of promoting competition.
Other operators, including Telecel Ghana and AT Ghana, are also facing operational and network quality challenges ahead of their planned merger, raising questions about their readiness to compete in a full-scale 5G environment.
Industry stakeholders have also raised concerns about device readiness, noting that 5G adoption could be slowed by limited availability of compatible smartphones and low immediate consumer demand.
The NGIC model was initially designed as an innovative shared infrastructure system where all operators would access a single national 5G network instead of building competing infrastructure. However, the model quickly ran into financial, operational, and adoption challenges, with critics accusing the company of overstating rollout progress while consumer access remained limited.
By May 2026, the government had effectively ended the exclusivity arrangement, paving the way for a fully competitive licensing system.
Under the new roadmap, Ghana aims to achieve 70% 5G population coverage by March 2027, coinciding with the country’s Ghana Independence Day milestone.
Despite the ambitious target, officials acknowledge that the timeline is tight, as the country must complete spectrum allocation, licensing, infrastructure rollout, and operator readiness within less than a year.
The success of the new strategy is expected to depend heavily on how well Ghana balances affordability, competition, and infrastructure investment to avoid repeating past mistakes in its telecoms sector.
