The outgoing Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh has stated that all players in the telecommunications industry must help to improve service quality in the country.

He is also of the view that even though MTN Ghana has led in investments, the company’s efforts must be complimented by other stakeholders in the sector.

“We should remember that it takes more than one company to improve service delivery. In 2021, we made a bold statement by announcing that we are going to invest a billion dollar into network infrastructure over the next years and this will happen irrespective of what happens to the economy and other markets”, he told George Wiafe on PM EXPRESS BUSINESS EDITION.

“Imagining investing in state of the art equipment and having all the best technical team in place. But you always have to deal with fibre cuts every day, power cuts, bad road infrastructure and some residential development affecting your infrastructure”, he added.

Mr. Adadevoh advised the government to implement measures that will protect fibre lines just as is done for electricity.

“We have over the years increased investments in our infrastructure to ensure that service quality is not compromised, but if external support does not improve, then everything that we have done will not bring the expected relief to subscribers”.

He stated that the MTN Group sees Ghana as an important market for its operations.

He added “As a consumer of network, I am also worried and we should not think that as the CEO, I am immune from this. That is why we are doing everything to deal with this challenge.

“So you cannot discount everything that affect service quality and pin everything to investment and network infrastructure” he defended.

Fiber cable cuts challenge

According to Mr. Adadevoh, fibre cuts have been a major challenge facing the company.

“We have struggled over the years, from numerous cuts, due to the various ongoing road projects and that is a major challenge for us at MTN [Ghana]”, he said.

“So we are constantly working every day to relay fiber, and that increases our cost everyday as a company” , he added.

Responding to the need to switch from fibre, Mr. Adadevoh noted that it is currently cost-effective.

He proposed that telcos share infrastructure to help reduce cost

MTN and Regulation in Ghana today

He rejected claims that MTN has a frosty relationship with the regulator, due to how the telco handled the Significant Market Power (SMP) position.

“We have worked with the regulator on several issues and it will not be fair for anyone to say that we are not on good terms with the regulator”.

“The telecom’s industry is a very high capital intensive industry, and everything must be done to encourage more investment into the industry, rather than actions that will limit investments.

He stressed that “MTN has demonstrated the biggest appetite to invest in the Ghana market, and you can imagine how the market will be without these investments”.

He stated that MTN Ghana and the regulator are committed to making the system better for everyone in the country.

MTN and localization  

He revealed that the company has done a lot as a market leader.

“MTN did an initial public offering and it went on to record as one of the biggest in the country”, he recalled.