MTN Ghana Boss, Michael Ikpoki has said MTN is not shy to invest in Ghana but arbitrary operational charges by MMDAs and government agencies, plus high utility bills pose a serious threat to its investments and that of other telcos. He told Adom News Editor Nii Narku Dowuona in an exclusive interview “we have invested over $1.1 million in Ghana since we came but currently we are paying an average of GHC2 million every month as electricity bill and the MMDAs continue to impose heavy arbitrary charges on our efforts to expand and provide better services and that is not good for our investments.” Mr. Ikpoki said the telecoms market in Ghana was already competitive and challenging for operators, for which tariffs keep going down whiles utility bills and operational charges go up, adding that the situation threaten to derail the gains the country derives from the telecom industry in the long run. He said beside the high utility bills, MTN also run standby generators and other fuel consuming equipment at all it over 4,000 base stations, which was added cost and so a slight upward adjustment in utility bills, which has become very rampant, has serious implications for MTN. Meanwhile the MMDAs and other government agencies also impose levies and charges on every move by telecom operators to install infrastructure to provide better services, and that, the telcos have complained is affecting their operations. He also expressed concern about telecom fibre cuts largely due to construction works and how that adds to the operational cost of MTN and other telcos. Mr. Ikpoki said the Ministry of Communication and the regulator, National Communications Authority (NCA) are helping to deal with the issue of arbitrary charges, and he was hopeful that something would be done about it before it affects the industry badly. Recently the ITU Boss, Dr Toure recently called on governments around the world to give telcos and ICT companies tax rebates to enable them expand and provide services for the less privileged and deprived communities around the world. Adom News can confirm that in India, Uganda and even in nearby Nigeria, such arbitrary charges, high utility bills, arbitrary charges, coupled with consistent reduction in telecom tariffs due to competition almost grinded the telecom industries of those countries to a halt. In Nigeria some operators, particularly CDMAs, folded up because they could not survive; in India and Uganda tariffs had to be raised by between 50% to 100% to save the industry and there are concerns a similar thing could happen in Ghana if the status quo is not reversed. There is also the threat of telecom operators cutting jobs and denying hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians their daily bread. In that regard, MTN Boss Michael Ikpoki said whereas the industry welcomes the sixth operator, Glo, it was important to note the risk of increased competition affecting revenues for all operators and eventually affecting the entire industry. He said as to whether the sixth operator would succeed or not, “time will tell – because heavy investment in a market of over 80% penetration and dwindling average revenue per user (ARPU) due to multi-simming, there is the threat of unprofitability.” Mr. Ikpoki however said in spite of the challenges staring the industry in the face, MTN would continue to invest in data to ensure better quality, higher speeds and particularly tailor-made solutions for large, medium and small-scale businesses this year. “Our 14,000kilometers WACS submarine fibre will be deployed in Ghana by May/April this year and that will improve data services for our customers,” he said. Mr. Ikpoki noted that obviously as mobile penetration rises, voice is becoming less profitable so the focus of the industry would obviously be data and MTN looks forward to taking advantage of the economic boom and its potential huge data consumption. “The oil and gas find comes along with the need to have systems that consume a lot of data to run the industry efficiently and MTN is gearing up for them on the back of the WACS cable, primary to help companies and the country achieve that expected economic boom,” he said. He said in terms of Corporate Social Responsibility, MTN would continue to add on to its over GHC3 million investment into health and education and also focus more on economic empowerment this year – undertaking projects in communities that would empower people to make a decent living for themselves.