'From 4,400 to 50 is a joke' - Bright Simons slams revision of 5G sites target

The Vice President of IMANI-Africa, Bright Simons, has expressed dissatisfaction with the government's decision to revise Next Gen Infraco (NGIC)'s target of building 4400 5G sites to 50. The policy analyst said that awarding the sole responsibility to NGIC to handle 5G in Ghana was disingenuous, although some telcos like MTN were already planning to build over 1000 5G sites.

Last week, the Minister of Communications, Innovations and Digital Technology, Sam George, announced that NGIC had built 16 sites as of the end of June, despite the 350 target. The policy analyst said, "Even though the previous government promised that NGIC would build 4400 cell sites by 2028 (forecast of at least 750 by end 2025; revised to a target of 350 by June 2025), we are now told that 16 have been built.

16! "That's not even what boggles the mind.

The new ICT Minister has now revised the target to 50 5G sites by the end of 2025. 50 out of the 3-year target of 4400!

What a joke!" Simons said in an X post on July 5, 2025. The minister stated that an agreement has been reached with the Next-Generation Infrastructure Company (NGIC) after the company failed to meet its initial deadline of June 2025.

He noted that by the end of the year, NGIC is expected to have at least 50 5G sites operational across Accra and Kumasi. "As of July 3, NGIC has deployed 16 5G-ready sites and has received full National Communications Authority approval for its core network infrastructure," he said.

Sam George firmly emphasised that there will be no further extensions to the deadline. "We've agreed with NGIC that there will be no further extension to these rollout deadlines.

If the company fails to meet the Q4 2025 deadline, the ministry will immediately initiate a review and possibly renegotiate the license terms," he stressed. Providing a background, Bright Simons said last year, the government forced all telecom companies in Ghana deploying 5G to stop in their tracks.

According to him, even though MTN was already working on deploying 1,322 sites, it too had to stop because the government said it did not want any telco to dominate in 5G as it happened wth 4G. "So, instead, a new entity called NGIC would build the 5G cell sites and lease them out to the telcos.

This obviously made no sense, as even for 3G & 4G, there are companies leasing sites to telcos, but that has not stopped domination. Richer companies can simply lease more sites.

"Despite the incongruity of the policy, Ghana's katanomic curse saw to it that there would be no serious pushback. The new 5G monopoly was imposed.

This was even though we proved that it WAS NOT TRUE that big global companies like Reliance & Nokia were part of NGIC. Contrary to claims made by the government," he noted.

Simons said, despite the discrepancies with the deployment of the 5G network, the current government, "the new government is reluctant to fix the clear policy mess." "When Kenya now has almost 2000 5G sites? And Safaricom alone has almost 1200 of that?

When Togocom launched 5G in Togo as far back as 2020? Almost every corner of Dakar, Senegal now has 5G.

South Africa, the continental leader, currently boasts of a 5G penetration of ~50% of the population. "Ghana, which was forecast by GSMA to hit 20% 5G penetration this year, can only boast a total penetration of ZERO percent.

Nearly a 1/3rd of African countries are now expected to overtake Ghana in 5G coverage in 2025," he noted. See the post below

1.

Last year, the govt forced all telecom companies in Ghana deploying 5G to stop in their tracks. 2.

Even though MTN was already working on deploying 1,322 sites, it too had to stop. 3.

Why? The govt said it didn't want any telco to dominate in 5G like it happened with 4G.

So,… pic.twitter.com/OZODfaFZmh

Source: GhanaWeb