Vodafone Ghana has taken a giant step to extend its mobile telephony service to every part of the country.
This is after Lynk Global, Inc. (Lynk), the world’s leading satellite-direct-to-standard-phone telecoms company signed its second commercial contract with Telecel Group in Africa to provide services to Vodafone Ghana’s subscribers.
This new contract will provide mobile coverage to 100 per cent of Ghana’s population of 31 million inhabitants using Lynk’s “cell-towers-in-space.”
CEO of Lynk, Charles Miller, who announced this in a release copied Graphic Online said, “This agreement extends Lynk’s leadership in the satellite-direct-to-standard-phone category in Africa and is an important milestone as interest in the category continues to heat up.
Lynk remains the only patented, proven and commercially-licensed company for satellite-direct-to-standard-phone technology anywhere in the world.”
Mr Miller further noted that Lynk’s “cell towers in space” will enable Telecel Group to offer ubiquitous geographic coverage to over six million Vodafone Ghana subscribers and will be utilised for extending rural coverage, including Maritime Economic Zone, as a backup to ensure service resilience, continuity of internet of things (IoT) devices, and as a terrestrial tower replacement for underperforming (economical or technical) towers.
CEO of Vodafone Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai on her part said “We are excited at the possibilities this partnership brings to the country.
It provides the unique opportunity to connect everyone everywhere and accelerates the benefits that connectivity offers in health, education, and job creation, especially for our women and youth.’’
Following the takeover of its majority shares by Telecel Group, Vodafone Ghana has leveraged the partnership between Lynk and Telecel Group to provide innovative services and widespread mobile coverage across Ghana’s rural areas.
Analysts have described the move by Vodafone as strategic considering its market position an the industry dominated by MTN Ghana.
They contend that for Vodafone to make inroads to eat more into the market share of the market leader, it has to be strategic with its approach by capturing the underserved and unserved areas of the country where business activity is said to be slow.
The CEO of Pop Out, Maximus Ametorgoh, said customers of these telecos always desire to have a new service “so any telecom company that provides that kind of absolute service to them, they are very likely to jump at it by being on board.”
Again he said with the strategy being adopted by Vodafone, it will make it easier for customers to stay connected adding for instance that, “travelling out of the densely populated areas to a jurisdiction where service providers are not available can be frustrating and therefore, if through satellite, there will be connectivity for people to enjoy, that will be a plus for the company”.
Mr Ametorgoh who is also one of the key tech analysts in the country said the service being provided will however, have to be reliable.
“Under the circumstance, convenience and reliability as well as value added services will also be key to win more customers”, he said.
He said with the cost of data now very high, offering lower rates to customers particularly those in the rural areas will be a major added advantage for Vodafone.
As to whether this new service will be enough to beat the market leader, the tech analyst indicated that “not in the first or second”.
To him, it will take more because phone numbers had become a source of identity for people and moving way from their current network may be difficult.
However, he said with porting services still available, the dynamics might change faster than anticipated.
Source: Graphiconline
