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The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Group, Ralph Mupita, has reaffirmed Ghana’s strategic importance within the multinational telecoms company’s portfolio, announcing plans to invest $1.1 billion in the country over the next three years to accelerate digital and financial inclusion.
The investment, he said, would focus heavily on expanding digital infrastructure, improving quality of service and deepening broadband coverage.
“We already have 5,000 sites where we have telecommunications equipment that connect our customers here in Ghana. Just this year alone, we’re going to add another 500,” he said during an engagement with a cross-section of the media in Accra last Friday.
Mr Mupita, who was answering questions together with the Senior Vice-President of MTN Group, Ebenezer Asante, said Ghana had become one of the group’s most significant operations, citing its strong performance and long-term growth prospects.
He revealed that MTN Ghana would this year be classified as the third major subsidiary of the group, alongside its operations in South Africa and Nigeria.
“Up until the end of last year, we’ve had two major subsidiaries within the context of the MTN Group across all markets serving the 300 million plus customers, South Africa and Nigeria. This year, we are adding Ghana as the third major subsidiary for the whole group, purely as a function of the way it has performed and the potential that we see going forward,” he said.
He also disclosed that MTN Ghana emerged as the best-performing operation across the group’s markets in 2025 under its Million Dollar Challenge which was an internal competition designed to reward excellence in strategic execution, innovation and value creation
Ghana was recognised as the top-performing Operating Company across the entire MTN Group during the competition.
As part of his visit to Ghana, Mr Mupita held discussions with the Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Sam George, on improving network performance and exploring the release of 5G spectrum to enhance home and enterprise connectivity.
Additionally, the MTN Group CEO and his team held meetings with the Bank of Ghana and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC).
At the central bank, Mr Mupita said the discussions centred on strengthening collaboration to combat fraud and mobile money scams.
“We’re going to bring artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the ability to deal with scams and fraud that we see particularly in the mobile money market,” Mr Mupita said.
Mr Mupita identified the digital economy and fintech as the two primary engines of growth for MTN Ghana.
On mobile money, he said the company intended to introduce more advanced financial services, while maintaining close engagement with regulators to align with national financial inclusion goals.
Beyond telecoms, he indicated that the group was interested in partnering with the government in areas such as fibre optic expansion, data centres, AI, digital skilling and youth empowerment.
He referenced a recent $2 million commitment by MTN Ghana towards youth coding initiatives, and expressed interest in supporting content creation among young Ghanaians.
“There’s a lot of talent in this country. How do we leverage the digital economy to create a platform for that talent — to build their own creative content they can sell and build businesses around,” he said quizzically.
Drawing parallels with India’s rapid digital transformation over the past decade, Mr Mupita said Ghana had the potential to leapfrog its development ambitions by deploying robust digital infrastructure and inclusive payment systems.
“Nothing stops Ghana from being able to leapfrog its own ambitions by a decade by deploying the digital economy and digital infrastructure going forward,” he said.
The Senior Vice-President of MTN Group underscored the resilience of the Ghana operation, noting that it had withstood significant macroeconomic shocks over the past decade, including high inflation, currency depreciation and domestic debt restructuring.
Mr Asante said the business had adopted deliberate financial and operational models to manage external shocks, while continuing to invest in infrastructure and pay dividends.
“Talking about resilience is not just the Ghana situation, but also building resilience based on the geopolitical context within which Ghana will press into the future,” he said.
Mr Asante added that while performance remained strong, transformation was equally critical.
