Head of Media Relations at the Institute of ICT Professionals Ghana (IP-GH), Elolo Alfred Konglo has revealed that high data bundle costs in Ghana are presented on account of service payment Mobile Network Operators make to service providers and not an intentional move as perceived by many Ghanaians.
Mr. Konglo, in an interview with Kwadwo Sefah-Danquah on Happy 98.9FM’s Happy Morning Show shared these insights while talking about the announcement regarding data offerings made by Communications Minister, Sam George on Tuesday, where he delved into the rudiments of how Ghanaians are offered data bundles and the respective costs for each data bundle package.
He added that new data development has been allowed under the basis of agreements and technicalities that must have been engaged by the MNOs and their respective service providers abroad and is surely going to demand extra payments from the MNOs to their service providers. “My few searches i have conducted tells me that operators actually spend in dollars and then bring the service to us and charge us in cedis for them to pay their service providers in dollars. For instance the undersea cables service providers that they buy the internet from, they pay: all the telcos pay in dollars. The telecom equipment they import into the country to install, they pay in dollars; it does not just end at installment, there are subscriptions that you have to be paying once you install; there are licenses they have to buy,”
In light of this, the IP-GH official noted that the mobile network operators strategically spread the charges across various revenue generation channels-including data bundle packages to generate sufficient revenue to settle all payments required by their service providers abroad. “They have to price the data in such a way that they are able to get enough revenue to be able to pay their service providers and pay for their licenses in dollars.”
