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MTN Ghana and Telecel Ghana to bid for 5G licences after NGIC loses concession

MTN Ghana and Telecel Ghana to bid for 5G licences after NGIC loses concession

MTN Ghana and Telecel Ghana are reportedly planning to make bids for 5G licences after the government revoked the exclusive concession of 5G wholesaler Next-Gen Infraco (NGIC).

According to a report from Bloomberg published Wednesday, MTN Ghana CEO Stephen Blewett and Telecel Group CEO Moh Damush confirmed they will bid in a 5G auction slated to “begin within weeks”.

According to another report from ITWeb Africa, Ghana’s Ministry of Communications and Digitalization plans to put spectrum in the 3.5-GHz and 26-GHz bands up for auction before the end of this year "to encourage greater competition and investment."

The ministry originally planned to adopt a shared wholesale network model to bring 5G to the country. To that end, the government formed a JV in 2024 with Radisys, Nokia and Tech Mahindra to launch NGIC, which would be responsible for building out the shared infrastructure.

NGIC was granted a ten-year exclusive licence to deploy neutral 4G and 5G infrastructure to be leased to operators, and launched its 5G wholesale network at the start of November 2024, with the goal of achieving national coverage by 2026.

By January 2025, no operators had leased any capacity from NGIC, which later downgraded its rollout target to 1,200 sites by 2027. However, it has only managed to deploy 49 operational 5G sites as of March 2026, Bloomberg reports.

Communications and Digitalization minister Sam George, who assumed the post last year, has previously said he was dissatisfied with NGIC’s progress, and would open 5G licences to other players to spur competition, the report said.

Ghana still intends to cover 70% of the population with 5G by 2027, the ITWeb Africa report said.



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