“Come in Savannah, Savannah, are you there”? A Senior Journalist recounted his experience with telecommunications years ago, when he had to use some archaic communication gadgets most generally termed as ‘Motorola’ to dictate news to his media house in Accra.

He said this during an engagement I had with media people in the Upper West region. He couldn’t hide his admiration for the new digital world which has made his professional and personal life so easy and more productive.  

A lot has happened in the Mobile Network space and it is amazing to think that it’s only two decades old. So how were we managing before the advent of the mobile phones and its evolution to smart phones?

How many of you think about how businesses are run?  Managing a business goes beyond finding an idea, identifying a business location, hiring, accessing capital and making profit. But have you thought about what it takes to run a large business and grow it into a profitable international brand?

There are quiet some successful businesses in the country currently. Some are big, some medium and others small or micro. The likes of UT Bank, Fidelity Bank, CDH Insurance, SIC, ELAC Group, Multimedia group are common reference points. We are quick to either judge or commend them without even thinking about what it take to set up a business, manage it, grow it and sustain it over time.

It takes the efficient use of resources both human, material and technological to make a business profitable and sustainable. It also takes a lot of ingenuity.

So have you ever thought about what it takes to be a Mobile Network Operator (MNO)? Can we imagine how the day in the life of a CEO of a telecoms provider is? In Ghana its quiet common to see everybody blaming mobile network operators for their commissions or omissions. Only a few appreciate what it takes to run a telecoms company.

First of all, their business impacts many lives and sectors. Telecommunications is transforming nations, economies, industries, lifestyles, behaviors. It impacts Health, Architecture, Banking and Finance, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Transport, Energy.

To get into becoming a mobile network operator or MNO, you would typically need to buy spectrum, deploy base stations, and find some way of hooking those back to a core network.

Today you need more than just that. You have to invest in fiber network as well as other Internet Protocol equipment.  Can you imagine what it takes to lay cable underground across the country? What about cable under sea. That is millions of dollars being sunk into the deep to bring fast internet and better voice services. MTN Group invested $100 million into the WACS undersea cable. Guess what, MTN was not the only investor.  This is big.

The industry is very innovative and dynamic. Whilst some industries are leapfrogging, the telecoms industry is skyrocketing. The operators have to spend money in research and innovation and into new businesses. The amount of investment one needs to keep pace with new trends and demands is “heavyweight”. Like a heavyweight boxer targeting his opponent, the mobile network operator run businesses as if they on a war path. You must win the war if you are to survive. A bad decision can easily take you down and a misplaced priority can land you out of business. It is not for the faint hearted.

The industry which has drastically changed from fixed to mobile GSM and within this short space of time the technology has moved from GPRS, EDGE, to 2G to 3G, HSPA and now 4G. The world has started talking about 5G already.

To be able to move from one generation of technology to the other you have to invest big. For example, the NCA is currently auctioning its 4G license at a base of $67million. This is minus the amount of money the operator needs to invest in deploying the network. MTN has expressed its interest in the license because they know how it will richly impact their subscribers’ experience.

What makes the industry very capex intensive is that a new technology today will soon become an “archaic” technology tomorrow. Even before you start investing, the technology is threatening to become obsolete. Decisions must be timely.

To be able to keep up with rapid innovations, telcos have to invest millions of dollars into their network. This does not include other expenses like personnel, marketing and cost of sales, Customer care, office buildings etc. In addition to all these, one has to deal with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). Why? Because the quality of phones impact the quality of experience, simple.

The final thing I need to talk about is the multiple taxes you have to pay. These taxes range from Corporate, VAT, NHIL, CST, National Fiscal Levy and several others. According to an industry report, total taxes borne and total taxes collected resulted in a total tax of GHC1.04 billion and GHC1.05

billion in 2013 and 2014 respectively. This contribution forms 6.9% and 5.4% of the Government of Ghana’s tax revenue (Ministry of Finance, 20141 and 20152 budget statements).

If you have to invest this much you also definitely need to make profit and reinvest into future projects.

In spite of all this, the telcos argue that Ghana enjoys one of the lowest charges in Africa and that is verifiable. Inflation in Communications have always been relatively low.

So, the next time you go bashing a MNO’s remember this. Telecommunications play an increasingly important role in the world economy and the global telecommunications industry was about a $4.7 trillion sector in 2012.The service revenue of the global telecommunications industry was estimated to be $1.5 trillion in 2010, corresponding to 2.4% of the world’s gross domestic product. In Ghana, the industry is said to contribute 2% of Ghana’s GDP.

Also note that the world’s most valuable brand is an ICT company – Apple and in Africa the most valuable brand is MTN, Africa’s leading telecom provider. Globally, four of the top five brands in the world are ICT related companies – Apple, Microsoft, Google, IBM.

We cannot underestimate the importance of mobile network operators. We have to support the industry if we value the impact it is making to our socio-economic growth. If it goes down, many businesses will go down with them.

So if there is one thing you need to do for telecoms companies, pray for their business to grow and work with them if you can.

Georgina Asare Fiagbenu is a Communications expert and an Accredited PR Practitioner.  She has a passion for Development Communications.