Business Standards, a media house based in India, is reporting that “Bharti Airtel, in its board meeting held earlier, announced the approval of the board for concluding an arrangement with Government of Ghana, wherein Government of Ghana will acquire 100 per cent shares of Airtel Ghana Ltd (AirtelTigo) along with all customers, assets and agreed liabilities.”
According to the story, the parties are in an advanced stage of talks for the conclusion of the commercial agreement for the transfer of AirtelTigo on a going concern basis to the Government of Ghana.
AirtelTigo is a joint venture between Airtel and Millicom, wherein Airtel holds a non-controlling 49.95 per cent stake in AirtelTigo, the website added.
Though the Government of Ghana, through the Ministry of Communication, has not made any official pronouncement on the issue, The Chronicle thinks this is a good deal, which, when finally struck, will inure to the benefit of the whole country. It is an undeniable fact that the telecom industry, especially the mobile network, has become one of the most lucrative business ventures in Ghana, and the African Continent as a whole.
Telecom operations have penetrated every corner of this country, with operators in the sector making billions of dollars in profit. As a country, we used to have what was then known as Ghana Telecom but now Vodafone. This is a company we should have nurtured and reaped the benefits in time, but because we needed money to balance our local budget, we had to sell it. Today, Vodafone is making billions of dollars and repatriating the money out of our economy to an already developed economy like Britain.
The same thing can be said of other telecom operators in the country who are making super profits from their operations. If we had held on to Ghana Telecom, Ghana would have, today, been making similar profits to support the development of the country. It is on the basis of this that we think the attempt being made to acquire the Airtel-Tigo brand is a laudable one, and should not be discarded.
We are, however, unhappy with signals we are picking that the state, after the acquisition, will divert 40% of her interest in the new company to the private sector.
In our view, this decision should only be taken if the 40% shares are going to be offloaded on the Ghana Stock Exchange for Ghanaians to buy. A hundred percent ownership means all the profits the company would make will stay in Ghana to stimulate further growth of our national economy. If the MTNs and Vodafones are today making billions of dollars from the sector, there is no way Ghana cannot also do same if we avoid political interference and allow the managers to work.
In our view, buying back the Airtel-Tigo brand will be one of the best legacies the Akufo-Addo government would have made if the deal goes through. The media, particularly the print, are today suffering because people are not more reading newspapers. They prefer to buy data and read their preferred news on the internet. So whether the person is working or not, buying data from the telecom companies has become the order of the day.
Our mothers and fathers in the rural areas, who do not have any regular incomes, are also buying ‘credit’ from the same telecom companies in order to call their children living in the towns and cities.
In a nutshell, demand for telecom services nowadays is inelastic, hence the huge profits being made by operators in the sector. We, therefore, insist that the government must go for the deal because it will serve the interests of the state.
The post Editorial: Go for AirtelTigo deal appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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