­Zain has announced the launch of commercial services in Ghana with the launch of the first HSPA network on the continent outside South Africa. Today marks the launch in Accra, the country’s capital city, with over US$420 million invested in network infrastructure Zain will be rapidly rolling out the network across the country.

 The new network will also be part of Zain's ‘One Network’ which offers borderless roaming across Zain networks in Africa and the Middle-East. At launch, Ghanaian Zain customers can access the One Network service when travelling to Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Nigeria, Niger, Tanzania and Uganda with plans to be fully operational in all other ‘One Network’ countries by the end of the year.

With Zain Ghana joining the ‘One Network’, Mr Chris Gabriel, CEO of Zain Africa added that “With thousands of people crossing Ghana borders daily from Burkina Faso and other Zain ‘One Network’ countries such as Nigeria and Niger, the One Network service will have a positive socio-economic impact on many as affordable cross-border communications offers the opportunity for loved ones to stay in touch, as well being an impetus in stimulating economic activity, improving the livelihoods of many communities.”

Ghana currently has four live mobile networks and Nigeria based Globalcom recently secured an operating license in the country. According to figures from the Mobile World database, the market shares of the current operators are: MTN (53%), Tigo (28.6%), Ghana Telecom (15.5%) and Kasapa Telecom (3.3%).

Vodafone recently brought Ghana Telecom, so competition can be expected to heat up sharply in the local market.

Source:cellular-news