This announcement follows widespread criticism and calls for the dissolution of the NCA board, partly due to MTN’s classification as a Significant Market Power (SMP), which some argue has led to unreliable data supply and high costs.

In a statement, the NCA clarified that, the SMP classification aims to promote fair competition, not to burden MTN’s operations.

The Authority explained that, measures such as unbalanced interconnection rates, tariff parity, and technology neutrality will foster competition, innovation, and consumer protection.

Speaking on Citi FM, the Director General of the NCA, Dr. Joe Anokye, said data prices will likely decrease with the introduction of the NGIC wholesale carrier-neutral open access network.

This network, expected to be launched by the last quarter of the year, will enable operators like AT, Telecel, and MTN to purchase bulk data without upgrading towers or equipment, leading to increased efficiency and reduced costs.

Dr. Anokye expressed optimism, saying, “Data prices are expected to go down, especially with the NGIC wholesale carrier-neutral open access. AT, Telecel, and even MTN will be able to buy bulk data without needing to upgrade towers or purchase new equipment to provide 4G, as another entity will handle that aspect.”

“They are supposed to launch by the last quarter of the year, and going from there we begin adding more towers. I think we should be hopeful.”

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The disruption impacted four West African countries, including Ghana, and left millions without reliable internet access for a few weeks.

While the National Communications Authority (NCA) has confirmed the full restoration of internet access, the Ghana Telecoms Chamber emphasises the need for improved protection of onshore fiber optic infrastructure to ensure consistent and reliable service.

The Director General of the NCA, Dr Joe Anokye, acknowledged the completion of repair works and announced that the Authority is implementing the country’s satellite services policy framework to mitigate the effects of similar disruptions in the future.

Speaking to JoyNews, he stated that, “we are happy to announce that all four sub-sea cable landing service providers, ACE, SAT-3, and WACS, have completed repairs on the sub-sea capable that got damaged, leading to the March 14th incident. According to the sub-sea-capable service providers, all four cable faults were found at the crossing with the sub-sea on the coast of Abidjan.”

The Chief Executive Officer of the Telecoms Chamber, Ken Ashigbey, has raised concerns over the frequent cuts to fiber optic cables across Ghana due to road and drainage construction works.

He emphasised the need to treat these cables as national security assets and prioritise their protection to ensure improved service delivery.

“When we continue to have the incidence where a lot of fiber cut-up goes on when drainage works and road constructions are happening, and other private developers are affected by these fiber cuts, they result in a significant impact on our quality and service as we build on the resilience of the undersea cable and other torrential connectivity.

“We need to ensure that our trunks and the last mile of connectivity are protected. We have all seen the importance of data connectivity in our lives. So, we need to start treating fiber connectivity as a critical resource, and that needs a lot more protection than we have been doing in the past. So, if we want to see further improvement in the quality of our services, we need to do a lot more to protect our infrastructure,” he noted.

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This according to the Director General, Dr Joe Anokye is due to the distance between the four subsea cables.

“These 4 cables in Ivory Coast, Cote D’Ivoire, ACE, one of them is called Ace. That’s the one closer. it’s about 118km or so. Between that cable and the next cable is about 11 kilometres and just to put it in context, you know, 11 kilometres is from, like, you know, the general post office to Accra Mall.”

“The distance between that cable SAT-3 and the next cable, which is the main one, is allegedly to be about 67 kilometres, which is like from Accra Mall to Suhum. And all 3 were compromised. The distance between Main One and WACS, it’s also 77 kilometres. This is Suhum to Nkawkaw. So it is very difficult to determine exactly what happened,” he explained in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM.

All subsea cable landing service providers in Ghana (ACE, MainOne, SAT-3 and WACS) were on March 14 completely cut off from international data services.

The situation has affected data services in the West African sub-region and the NCA says it will take a minimum of five weeks to fully restore the internet.

In the short term, NCA wants network operators to prioritise certain critical government agencies when allocating data resources in the wake of the recent internet outages.

This follows a meeting with stakeholders on Monday.

These institutions include Bank of Ghana (BoG), Ghana Association of Banks (GAB), Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), Central Securities Depository, Ghana Water Company Limited, Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Subsea Cable Landing Service Providers, Ghana Internet Exchange (GIX), and Accra Internet Exchange (AIX).

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This is to help measure transmission parameters of frequency modulation (FM) and television (TV) in the country and also to enable the NCA to secure proof of deviations for enforcement of authorisation conditions.

The Director-General of NCA, Joe Anokye, at a ceremony on Tuesday was optimistic the centre would ensure broadcast service quality for consumers.

“By late 2017 it had become apparent that we could no longer rely exclusively on periodic spectrum monitoring to verify compliance with technical conditions associated with authorisations, neither could we fully leverage our legacy systems to efficiently manage the increased number of broadcast authorisations,” Mr Ankoye said.

He stated the first BMS was installed at the NCA office in 2018 and was expanded to the regional offices between 2019 and 2020.

To check and rid airwaves of nonchalant advertisements, especially with regards to spiritualists and rituals, he revealed that the NCA and the NMC signed a memorandum of cooperation on June 15 2021 to regulate broadcast content in line with the provisions of Section 3(c) of the NCA Act 2008 (Act 769).

The Board Chairman of NCA, Isaac Osei-Bonsu Jnr, on his part, reiterated with the rapid development of the radio and TV industry and its convergence with telecommunications, it had become necessary to ensure the quality of broadcasting services.

This, he explained, was because broadcasting was now competing with new technologies which showed clearer and sharper content via data services.

He added the system will now provide evidence of what goes on in the broadcasting
landscape and will bring some sanity to the media landscape and will also force
Broadcasters to operate within their bandwidth to avoid interruptions.

The BMC is an independent monitoring system for the analysis of the frequency and technical
specifications of Television and FM radio broadcasting services.

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The installation which was designed by an indigenous Ghanaian engineering firm that monitors all 13 satellites providing Free to Air (FTA) satellite TV services over the territory of Ghana and also has the ability to record 100 video channels (terrestrial and satellite) and produce them for review, analysis or evidence.

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation (3G) technology.  It is deployed using the 900MHz frequency band which was originally assigned for the deployment of 2G services (GSM) in Ghana. The UMTS technology was originally authorised in the 2100MHz frequency band.

Addressing the media, Joe Anokye said the UMTS technology makes it easier for telcos to expand their data coverage with minimum costs especially as they can be deployed over a large area at less costs. The UMTS technology also opens up the space for telcos to reach out to folks in areas where hitherto they will not because of the costs in deploying base stations there.

Joe Anokye said the benefits of allowing telcos to deploy UTMS is particularly beneficial to consumers. “With this, we will be promoting digital inclusion in Ghana and in the process customers in unserved & underserved areas will see the immense benefits especially as they see improvement with their access to data and data services, additionally, since this will lead to a maximization of spectrum use. It will lead to enhanced, consistent 3G user experience and reduce 3G coverage black spots”, he said, adding that the technology will also introduce choice and competition for the consumer while increasing data penetration, improved spectral efficiency and improve handover problems.

The Ag. Director General stressed that the heart of this decision is the consumer and that the NCA will monitor the UTMS deployment to ensure that all these benefits that have been penned down for the ultimate benefit of the consumer will come to fruition. He said, communication is essential for development so ultimately this will go a long way to support government initiatives to bring development to the rural areas.

The Authorisation to provide 3G services in the 900MHz band will be granted for specific areas upon application by a telco. The NCA will however give regard to unserved and underserved areas in considering the applications. MNOs will receive an Authorisation and not a Licence. The NCA has waived Application and Authorisation Fees or Charges for this service to interested telcos whiles authorisation will be for the unexpired term of the applicant’s 2G Licence.