COUNTRY FOCUS : GHANA
The IT industry is an important contributor to the economy of Ghana and because of its stable political and economic environment , the country is attracting global investments in the area of telecom subsea cables , datacentres , fibre and satellite connectivity , green energy and US facing BPO centres .
Fastest growing IT industry
Aerial shot of the city of Accra in Ghana at night
Ghana ’ s ICT sector has proven to be one of the country ’ s fastest-growing industries in recent years , Indeed , the sector has increased its contribution to GDP from $ 900m , or 2.3 % of the total , in 2014 , to $ 1.7bn and 3.6 %, respectively , in 2017 . The expansion of telecom services has fuelled innovation and investment in ICT such as software , application platform development and mobile money .
The $ 212m e-Transform Ghana Project , supported by the World Bank , has provided funding and increased access to digital technologies , and strengthened instructional capacity .
According to US based International Trade Administration , Ghana has a relatively high mobile penetration rate of 45 % of the overall population with an even higher rate of individual mobile voice subscriptions of 134 % of the population . Data subscriptions are 24 million , a penetration rate of 78 %.
Further , Ghanaian consumers ’ early adoption of mobile payments , helped to establish Ghana as a leader among African countries in financial technologies . Last mile connectivity continues to be an issue .
American Tower Corporation operates 84 % of Ghana ’ s more than 6,500 towers . Helios operates 16 %. Huawei is a significant equipment supplier as well . Vodaphone has nearly a 98 % share of the fixed voice market . In 2019 , Google opened its first Artificial Intelligence research centre in Africa in Ghana .
At of the start of 2022 , South African-based MTN had the largest market share of Ghana ’ s mobile telecommunications sector at 61 %. Vodafone had
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