MTN Ghana and Vodafone Ghana have announced a strategic partnership to pilot national roaming services in the Volta Region as a first step towards a broader nationwide agreement. The deal will see Vodafone expand its mobile network coverage by leveraging MTN’s infrastructure in this pilot phase.
In a statement, Vodafone Ghana CEO Patricia Obo-Nai said: ‘The implementation of national roaming will enable Vodafone Ghana customers to stay connected in areas outside our current locations of coverage. This is especially important for rural communities as national roaming invariably provides a greater choice of network providers.’ MTN Ghana CEO Selorm Adadevoh added: ‘MTN fully supports the government’s national roaming plans. We acknowledge that national roaming will extend network coverage for Ghanaians nationwide and support the growth of the Ghana telecommunications industry … Over the coming months, the outcome of the pilot will be instrumental in the development of the next phase of the partnership to cover more complex technical configurations for nationwide roaming on either network.’
The agreement is part of a wider plan by the Ghanaian government to facilitate universal access and accelerate the country’s digital transformation by implementing a full national roaming regime among all operators in the country. As previously reported by CommsUpdate, Glo – the country’s smallest mobile network operator by subscriptions – entered a nationwide roaming agreement with rival AirtelTigo last week in a bid to provide wider coverage and a faster internet experience for its customers.