Like they’re not already the largest mobile operator in the world in terms of revenue (China Mobile has more subscribers), Vodafone is acquiring 70% stake in a leading Ghana’s telecommunications operator, Ghana Telecom, from the Government of Ghana for $900 million (which would get to keep the remaining 30% of the company).
Ghana Telecom is number 3 mobile player with approximately 17% market share and 1.4 million customers as at 31 March 2008. At the same time, they are leading fixed line and broadband operator with about 99% of the total number of lines and around 90% market share of the retail ADSL market. During last year, Ghana Telecom’s revenues grew 9.3% to $290 million.
Vodafone plans to leverage its experience of rapid network deployment in India and other emerging markets and hopes to see Ghana Telecom raising its mobile market share over time to around 25%.
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do.
In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application.
Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.