The partnership reportedly did not go down well with the Ghanaian opposition. According to the Bloomberg report, “A deal for Asia’s second-richest man to cash in on demand for 5G wireless services in Ghana is facing opposition from the country’s parliamentary minority, which has accused the administration of rushing into a ‘sweetheart deal’ ».
Because Ghana’s opposition is against the deal
The country’s parliamentary minority has reportedly accused the government of rushing into a bad deal.The National Democratic Congress (NDC) maintains that the deal with Next Gen Infraco (NGIC) is disadvantageous for Ghana. They claim the government could have secured a much larger advance through a competitive bidding process. “The NDC caucus in Parliament is of the view that at a time when the country is in dire need of foreign exchange and non-tax revenue, it is unconscionable for the government to hand over the country’s valuable and sought-after 5G spectrum to a shell company for a pittance “, he said in the announcement.
What is Reliance’s 5G partnership
Under the current deal, NGIC gets sole control of Ghana’s sole 5G license for a decade. Ambani-led Reliance Industries will provide network infrastructure, applications and smartphones through its subsidiary Radisys Corp. Other partners involved include Nokia, Microsoft and Indian outsourcing company Tech Mahindra. Two lesser-known African companies, Ascend Digital Solutions and K-NET, hold a majority stake (55%), while the Ghanaian government retains about 10%.
Minister of Communications and Digitization of Ghana, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, said during the announcement that the choice of Indian partners. He highlighted India’s similar demographics and recent success with telecom expansion through Reliance Jio. This, he believes, gives India valuable, informed experience that Ghana can benefit from.
The project is expected to be completed within six months, with local telecom companies using the shared infrastructure to offer 5G services.