Telecel Ghana is stepping up investment in its network infrastructure as the company responds to growing subscriber numbers, increased usage of its services and rising demand for mobile connectivity across the country.
The company’s Director of External Affairs, Komla Buami, disclosed that Telecel had significantly increased the amount of capital being committed to its operations this year compared with previous years, following what he described as an “exponential growth” in the utilisation of its services.
Mr. Buami said the increased investment formed part of the company’s broader strategy to expand its network, improve service quality and address congestion in areas where demand for Telecel services had increased sharply.
He made the disclosure during a stakeholder engagement with editors and media practitioners from the Western and Central regions in Sekondi-Takoradi. The engagement formed part of Telecel Ghana’s efforts to engage media stakeholders across the country and provide updates on the company’s operations since it took over the assets and operations of Vodafone Ghana about two and a half years ago.
According to Mr. Buami, the company spent its first two years undertaking significant work on network upgrades and expansion, while retaining the workforce it inherited from Vodafone.
“When Telecel took over from Vodafone, there had not been any job losses. Telecel has kept the jobs of everybody who was in Vodafone,” he said. He explained that the company was now building on the foundation established during the initial phase of the transition by increasing investment in infrastructure to match growing demand.
“We’ve seen an exponential growth in terms of utilisation of our services. We’ve seen our subscriber numbers growing. We’ve seen our Telecel Cash subscribers also growing, and of course, we are also declaring profit in the overall business,” the External Affairs Director said.
He said the growth in patronage provided a strong incentive for the company to continue investing in its network to ensure that customers received reliable services. Areas experiencing network congestion as a result of increased traffic, he said, would receive particular attention, while investments would also be directed towards communities where Telecel’s network footprint needed to be strengthened.
Buami also highlighted the Ghanaian ownership component of Telecel Ghana, noting that 30 per cent of the company was Ghanaian-owned. He said the company regarded the local ownership structure as an important part of its identity and believed the increasing patronage of its services reflected, among other things, Ghanaians’ willingness to support businesses with a Ghanaian ownership component.
“We see it in the way that people are actually subscribing to our network. It is for us as a business to see this opportunity and continue to invest,” he said.
Fibre cuts threaten network reliability
While Telecel Ghana continues to invest heavily in network expansion, the company says frequent damage to fibre infrastructure during road construction has emerged as a major challenge to reliable telecommunications services. Mr. Buami said the company was recording an increasing number of fibre cuts, with the incidents sometimes disrupting connectivity to large populations.
He acknowledged the importance of road infrastructure development to national growth, but cautioned that road construction activities could inadvertently damage telecommunications infrastructure buried along road corridors.
“We all appreciate the very good work that the government of Ghana is doing in terms of roadwork expansion. Everybody wants roads to be constructed to their various communities and their towns. However, a fallout of all this road expansion is fibre cuts. We are seeing an increasing number of fibre cuts daily, and this is also causing a lot of issues.”
According to the External Affairs Director, some communities experience recurrent connectivity challenges not necessarily because of inadequate network coverage, but because fibre infrastructure serving those areas has been damaged. He, therefore, appealed to contractors, foremen, workers and other parties involved in road construction to exercise greater caution when working around telecommunications infrastructure.
Mr. Buami stressed that a single fibre cut could affect connectivity for a very large number of people, making the protection of fibre infrastructure a matter that should concern all stakeholders. He argued that internet connectivity had become a critical service for households, businesses and institutions and, increasingly, an important national infrastructure asset.
Telecel strengthens mobile-money security
On mobile-money fraud, Mr. Buami said Telecel Ghana was continuing to invest in technology and systems designed to make its Telecel Cash platform safer for customers.
He said the company had in-house engineers responsible for developing applications and strengthening the backend systems supporting mobile-money transactions.
One of the measures, he said, was the use of facial verification on the Telecel Play application, which adds an additional layer of authentication for users.
“We have our own in-house engineers that develop apps for us and also build a strong back-end or back-haul protection of our mobile-money transactions,” he said. Mr. Buami further disclosed that Telecel had a 24-hour team dedicated to educating customers about fraud and helping them respond to potential threats.
However, he said technology alone could not eliminate mobile-money fraud, urging customers to take personal responsibility for protecting their PINs and other confidential information. He advised customers never to disclose their PINs or security codes to anyone, regardless of the reason given by a caller.
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