MTN Ghana has raised a loan worth $276 million to finance network expansion amid increased competition for subscribers in the West African country.
MTN Ghana managing director Michael Ikpoki said the funds would be used to upgrade the entire network to 3G and above.
Earlier this week, Reuters reported 16 local banks in Ghana would provide $215.8 million, while four foreign banks would contribute $60million.
Although MTN is the largest network with over 10 million subscribers in January, Ghana’s Telcom industry has become very competitive.
Glo Mobile, which launched its commercial service last month after three years delay and two successive reschedules, became the latest entrant that launched its network. The company expects its network to cover 85 percent of the country and garner a subscriber base of 1.5 million.
The company became the second largest network with over 14000 base stations and announced its plans to expand this to 2300 by the end of the year.
MTN is Ghana’s leading network operator with a subscriber base estimated at 10 million, as of January.
Other networks include Vodafone with an estimated 4.2 million, Millicom International Cellular’s Tigo with about 4.1 million and Airtel with around 2.5 million.
