Cellular /Mobile Network
The first cellular phone service in Ghana was initiated by Mobitel in 1992. In that year alone, 19,000 Ghanaians owned mobile phones. In 1998 the number of mobile phone users in the country increased to 43,000 and by the middle of 1999 the number increased to 68,000.
Around 1999 and 2000 four companies were competing for cellular customers, and the usage rose from 22,000 to 132,000 subscribers.
There are six main mobile phone providers in Ghana including: MTN Ghana, Tigo and Airtel.
In April 2017, the total number of mobile voice subscriptions was 35,984,280.
Networks:GSM 900, GSM 1800, UMTS 2100.
Mobile Data (February 2017)
Population |
Mobile penetration |
Total subscribers |
28,207,315 |
69.83% |
19,697,062 |
Operator |
Subscribers |
Market share for broadband data |
Website |
Airtel |
2,841,368 |
14.43% |
More info... |
Vodafone (Ghana Telecom) |
2,555,670 |
12.97% |
More info... |
Expresso |
29,169 |
0.15% |
More info... |
SCANCOM (MTN) |
11,278,000 |
57.26% |
More info... |
Glo Ghana |
269,466 |
1.37% |
More info... |
Millicom Ghana (Tigo) |
2,723,389 |
13.83% |
More info... |
Detailed information
Spacefon
- It started operating in October 1996. At the time, it covered most of the district cities. In addition their roaming service were working and they had the same agreement around 45 countries and 55 operators.
- Scancom, which launched services in 1996, operates a nationwide mobile phone network using GSM technology. Under the brand name Spacefon, also known as spacefon Areeba. At the time the company became a leading mobile provider in Ghana, with coverage in all major cities, a 65 percent market share, and approximately 955,000 subscribers as of end-2004. At the time, their target was to increase their capacity from nearly 1 million subscribers to 2.7 million subscribers by end-2006, and also increase the population coverage from 50 percent to 70 percent. More info...
Millicom
- Tigo Ghana was lauched in 1992 and it was the first mobile operator. They have developed GSM, 2G and 3G networks. Tigo Cash was launched in 2011 and it now records 3.2 million transactions every month. Tigo Ghana became the first Tigo market in Africa to launch Tigo Music in 2014, this streaming service connects its customers to a playlist of more than 30 million tunes. More info...
Kasapa Telecom
- Kasapa Telecom Limited provided mobile and fixed-line telecommunications services in Ghana. Some of the services included prepaid, voice-mail, data transmission , ISDN, etc. Kasapa Telecom Limited was formerly known as Celltel Limited and changed its name to Kasapa Telecom Limited in 2003. Kasapa Telecom Limited was incorporated in 1993 and is based in Accra, Ghana. As of July 11, 2008, Kasapa Telecom Limited operates as a subsidiary of Expresso Telecom Group.
- Kasapa was taken over by Expresso More info...
Ghana Telecom
- Vodafone Ghana, formerly Ghana Telecom, is the national telecommunications company of Ghana. In 2006, it had around 400,000 customers for fixed and mobile telephony and Internet services.On 16 April 2009, the company was rebranded as Vodafone Ghana. As of 2015 Vodafone Ghana is the country's second largest operator with a market share for December 2015 was 21.74% and 18.39% of data behind African communications giant MTN Group. More info...