The Minister of Communication and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has clarified that MTN, one of Ghana’s leading telecommunications companies, is not excluded from the 5G rollout plans.
When the government announced its plans to introduce 5G within the next six months on May 30, industry experts questioned why MTN was not part of the consortium – Next-Gen InfraCo (NGIC) – tasked with implementing the 5G network.
Addressing the issue on the Citi Breakfast Show on Monday, June 24, the Ablekuma West MP informed host Bernard Avle that MTN will be involved in the rollout at some point.
She refuted claims of MTN being deliberately excluded, calling them false alarms and far from the truth.
“I don’t know who created that impression. Somebody threw it out there, and nobody spoke to me or any of those involved in putting this consortium together before spreading this false alarm. It is not true,” she stated.
“…Discussions are ongoing. All network operators in the country are being offered the opportunity to take up equity in this Next-Gen InfraCo, all of them, including MTN.”
The companies that make up the 5G consortium are Ascend Digital, K-NET, Radisys, Nokia, Tech Mahindra, and two telcos, AT Ghana and Telecel Ghana.