Vodafone Ghana CEO Kyle Whitehill says internet service providers (ISPs) in Ghana are no more competitive because they use expensive and obsolete technology to provide service. There are about 149 licenced ISPs in Ghana, but only about 30 are operational, out of which less than 10 are fully-owned by Ghanaians. Most of the ISPs buy bandwidth from Vodafone, and they complain that Vodafone is killing their businesses because it plays both referee and players in the broadband market. The ISPs argue that Vodafone wholesales bandwidth to them at a certain price, then turns around and retail bandwidth at a cheaper rate, making the ISPs less competitive. They are worried that Vodafone and the other telcos are also getting into the Internet Cafe business as well. But the Vodafone Ghana boss said the accusation of the ISPs has no legs, because “we represent less than 10% of the cost of ISPs and 90% of their cost comes from the fact that they use expensive and old fashioned microwave technology, which is four times more expensive than anything else in the marketplace.” He said huge corporate organizations, like the ones Vodafone provide broadband service to, need robust and reliable infrastructure so they want to deal with a known and trusted entity like Vodafone. “For instance we have 27 commercial banks and four state-owned banks in Ghana and all of them need fibre and a robust infrastructure to be managing our moneys effectively,” he said. The Vodafone CEO said Vodafone is strong in that area because it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the kind of infrastructure that the corporate bodies want, but the ISPs have not made that kind of investment and are struggling along with expensive and old fashioned infrastructure. “It is convenient for ISPs to blame Vodafone but the truth is that as per the demands of the market they are simply not competitive anymore,” he said. Kyle Whitehill said customers want to buy bandwidth from a credible and international companies when it comes to running their business, adding “that’s what they want so don’t blame Vodafone for the market demands.” He also explained that Vodafone’s bandwidth wholesale business is independent, with its own Managing Director so he, as CEO is only a board member but does not set prices and commercial terms for that company.