Many countries see information and communication technologies (ICTs) as a necessary foundation for sustained, long-term socio-economic development. Consequently, such countries have developed policies and strategies to harness the potential of ICT. The Ghanaian ICT policy and legal environment has not seen drastic changes since the previous RIA SPR of 2010. However, the Ministry of Communications did, in 2011-12, work towards finalisation of a National Broadband Strategy, which aims to influence the development of broadband by ensuring competition and encouraging
both deployment and innovative use of broadband. RIA’s analysis reveals that Ghana is among the African countries with the most competitive prices for mobile telephony services. In terms of the cheapest prepaid mobile product in the country, Ghana ranked 5th in affordability out of 44 African countries indexed by RIA in the first quarter (Q1) of 2012, and jumped to 4th position in the first
quarter of 2013. Ghana’s relatively good performance in this market segment is primarily due to competitive pricing among the six mobile companies operating in the country. In terms of ICT services in general, mobile telephony remains the dominant platform.
