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Fibre to Home Will Define Ghana’s Digital Future — Sam George
The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Hon. Samuel Nartey George, says the country’s digital transformation hinges on one major pillar, Fibre to Home (FTTH), insisting that no nation can achieve true high-quality data experience without a strong fibre backbone reaching homes, offices, and institutions nationwide.
Speaking in an interview with Roland Walker on TV3’s New Day show, the minister stressed that while spectrum expansion and regulatory tightening are underway, the real game-changer for Ghana’s quality of experience is fibre.
He explained that although spectrum had been released early in the administration to support telcos, spectrum alone cannot guarantee the level of digital reliability Ghanaians expect, especially with data traffic far outpacing traditional voice services.
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“You can’t really have a proper national data experience if you don’t have fibre,” he emphasised. “The more fibre you have buried in the ground and connecting homes and businesses, the better the experience across the whole country.”
Hon. George stressed that from next year, the Ministry and the regulator, the NCA, will shift aggressively from assessing quality of service to prioritising quality of experience, ensuring that real user satisfaction becomes the number-one benchmark.
He noted that consumers today rely heavily on data-dependent applications like WhatsApp calls, Telegram calls and social media streaming and expect seamless connectivity.
“Quality of experience means your videos shouldn’t buffer, latency should be minimal, and the networks must invest in giving customers real value,” he said.
The minister broke down how FTTH changes the entire ecosystem:
- A station like TV3 with 50–100 workers would run almost entirely on high-speed fibre, not mobile networks.
- This reduces pressure on cell sites, freeing up mobile data capacity for those who truly need it.
- With less congestion, mobile users in the same catchment area experience faster speeds and fewer interruptions.
- Fibre-fed homes and institutions provide stability that spectrum alone cannot achieve.
He added that several new players are in discussions with the Ministry to deploy aerial fibre using existing power line infrastructure, significantly speeding up and broadening fibre rollout nationwide.
Hon. George also revealed ongoing collaborations with Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali under the Smart Africa initiative. The goal: joint bulk purchase of bandwidth to reduce costs and improve affordability.
He explained that although Ghana has access to massive undersea cable capacity via ACE, MainOne, GloOne, Africa Coast to Europe, and the Equiano cable via Togo, the nation currently consumes less than 1% of what is available.
“When you don’t buy in bulk, your price point is higher. But if the four countries come together and pull demand, we negotiate lower bandwidth prices,” he explained.
Through aerial fibre routes carried on power cables, Ghana could even become a major distributor of high-speed connectivity inland.
The Minister assured Ghanaians that with stricter KPIs, expanded spectrum, new FTTH policies, and regional collaborations, 2026 will see a major boost in both quality of service and quality of experience.
“I’m confident that next year, the data experience in this country will be far better,” he concluded.
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