Telephones and Communication

The telephone system is run by Ghana Telecom and is relatively reliable. Telephone users in the country increased from 218,000 in 2000 to three million (3,000,000) as at the end of 2005. By 2012 there were 285,000 fixed telephone lines in use, which put Ghana on the 120th position in the world. Mobile telephones are overwhelmingly popular in the cities, it is approximated that in 2012 about 25.6 million mobile cellular lines were in use, which at the time put Ghana on the 42nd position in the world.

Fixed Network

• Telephone Lines (2005): 3,000,000.
• Telephone density(2012): 1.12 lines/100 persons.
• Telephone subscription (2014): 260,407.
• Telephone subscription (2015): 275,570.
• Since the privatization of Ghana Telecom (GT) in 1996, it has increased phone lines from 78,900 to 130,000 as of December 1997.
• The cost of a landline on avarage is 250 GH cedis (2017).
• Vodafone and Airtel are two (2) operators providing fixed line services to the public in Ghana. As from April 2017 about a total of 266,587 subscriptions was made.

Cellular/Mobile Network

The first cellular phone service in Ghana was initiated by Mobitel in 1992. In that year alone, 19,000 Ghanaians owned mobile phones. In 1998 the number of mobile phone users in the country increased to 43,000 and by the middle of 1999 the number increased to 68,000.

Around 1999 and 2000 four companies were competing for cellular customers, and the usage rose from 22,000 to 132,000 subscribers.

There are six main mobile phone providers in Ghana including: MTN Ghana, Tigo and Airtel.

In April 2017, the total number of mobile voice subscriptions was 35,984,280.

Networks:GSM 900, GSM 1800, UMTS 2100.

Cellular Market Penetration (December 2016)

Population	Fixed penetration	Mobile penetration	Total Subscribers	Total Access lines
28.21 million (2016)	0.90%	136.34%	28,094,823	38,556,568