In two years or so, Vodafone Ghana will list on the stock exchange to raise more capital for the business, this is according to Vodafone Ghana CEO, Kyle Whitehill.
GhanaWeb reported that the CEO sees the option to list on the stock exchange as an opportunity for the citizens of Ghana to have a piece in the telecom company.
He hopes to see the day when their shares or of any other telecom company are listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange and when Ghanaians can benefit from the share prices and dividends.
Kyle said that heavy taxes are not the only way Ghana can benefit from the telecom industry. He added that the industry brings value to the economy in many ways, and placement of shares on the stock exchange is one of the many ways Ghanaians could share in the wealth from the telecom industry.
Vodafone has a 70 percent stake in what was Telecom Ghana in 2008. The rest 30 percent belongs to the government.
This new thinking comes as most of the telecom companies in Ghana have posted limited profit and some even losses. The companies are looking for avenues to make their business profitable and raise the needed operational money.
Ghana has six telecom operating companies including Tigo, MTN, Airtel Ghana, Expresso Telecom, Glo mobile and Vodafone.
The country has a mobile penetration of over 80 percent with MTN leading the pack with more subscribers that its competitors. Vodafone Ghana has a market share of 25 percent.
On this market share, Kyle Whitehill concedes that, “My argument then was that most markets internationally have two to three mobile operators – the reason for that is it’s hard to build a profitable business with less than 25 percent market share.”
