Page 29 - ONLINE SERVICE

Plans for the Infrastructure Ghana has one of the most vibrant mobile markets in Africa, with six
competing operators including the regional heavyweights MTN Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, Airtel (formerly
Zain) and Millicom (Tigo).
In March 2017 the owners of Tigo Ghana and Airtel Ghana agreed on terms for the merger of these local
units, creating the second largest operator in the country by subscribers. Although subscriber growth
has remained strong in recent years competition has resulted in lower Average Revenue per User
(ARPU) and consequently operators have seen stagnant revenue growth.

Mobile infrastructure 5.1 Analogue networks 5.2 Digital
networks 5.2.1 GSM 5.2.2 UMTS (3G)
Other-infrastructure
developments 5.3.1 GPRS
5.3.2 EDGE
While growth in the voice market has slowed, there is enormous potential in mobile broadband services,
both in terms of subscriber additions and in mobile data ARPU. Mobile broadband already accounts for
the vast majority of internet connections in the country. The launch of LTE services by MTN Ghana in
mid-2016 has added to the vibrancy of this sector.

The digital divide is a phenomenon linked not only to the topic of access to the Internet, but also to the
one of usage and usage benefit. In this ebook we take a look at the global digital divide concerning
Africa. Internet access is essential to unlocking Africa’s future and opening up the economic and social
opportunities that this global network of networks can bring. While there has been robust growth in
internet usage across the continent over the past few years and adoption continues to climb, Africa still
sits on the cusp of the internet revolution and much work remains to be done.

Rwanda has long recognized the value of the internet in helping to transform its agrarian, lower-income
economy into one that is both knowledge-based and middle-income. But having implemented the
standard measures, with significant results, the government understands how bridging the digital divide
is a truly multidimensional challenge. It is not enough to focus on developing the infrastructure to access
the internet, it is also important to build the capacity to promote, develop and host content locally.

In 2000, the government released its Vision 2020 framework along with the first of four National
Information Communication Infrastructure (NICI) plans. As one of its first elements, the
government liberalized telecommunications as far back as 2001, which has been very successful to
date, leading to three mobile operators with 2/3/4G mobile networks covering 98% of the
population. Not content to rest there, the government also pioneered infrastructure sharing as a
way to lower the costs. As a landlocked country, the government negotiated with neighbors to
purchase international internet capacity in bulk, and pass on discounts to local ISPs. To further
lower costs, the government helped establish an internet exchange point in 2009, to keep local
traffic within the country. Finally, the government helped establish a wholesale cutting edge 4G
mobile network.
While this has enabled costs and prices to fall, and internet usage to increase, according to Rwanda’s ICT
regulator’s statistics only 25% of the population was online as of December 2014. A high figure relative
to its peers, but not high enough to meets the ambitious goals of the government. The numbers in
Rwanda illustrate a shift in the conception of the digital divide. While at some point, and still in some
regions, the digital divide was defined by a lack of availability, today almost the entire population of
Rwanda has access to 3G mobile broadband, yet less than 10% have adopted the services.

29