• Ghana directs AT and Telecel to implement national roaming to safeguard over 3 million AT subscribers.
• Government plans AT–Telecel merger, creating a stronger competitor against MTN’s 74% market dominance.
• KPMG appointed to advise on AT’s debt and Telecel stake, aiming for a sustainable second national operator.

The Government has directed AT (formerly AirtelTigo) and Telecel Ghana to implement a national roaming arrangement, allowing AT’s traffic to be migrated onto Telecel’s network, the Ministry of Communications, Digital Technology, and Innovations announced on September 6. The measure is to safeguard more than three million AT subscribers after the operator’s network came under threat from site disconnections by American Tower Corporation (ATC) Ghana over unpaid debts.

According to the Ministry, on September 1, 2025, ATC began disconnecting power to AT’s radio access sites, raising the risk of widespread service disruption. Over three million AT Ghana subscribers were at risk of losing access to voice, data, and mobile money services due to the debt crisis. In Ghana, where mobile services are critical for daily life, financial transactions, and small businesses, such a sudden blackout would have carried serious social and economic consequences. Just days later, on September 4, the government confirmed plans to merge AT Ghana, which it fully owns, with Telecel Ghana, in which it holds a 30% stake, in a bid to create a stronger and more financially sustainable competitor.

The Ministry announced during a staff engagement session, where sector minister Samuel Nartey George reassured AT’s 300 permanent employees that their jobs would be protected. He also stressed that customers would not experience service disruptions during the transition. The decision, he noted, is rooted in AT Ghana’s difficult financial situation. The operator has posted losses of more than $10 million in the first eight months of 2025, financed largely through taxpayer funds. “We cannot continue to pump scarce public funds into an operation that is not sustainable,” George said.

To secure AT’s long-term sustainability, the government has appointed KPMG as transaction advisor with a 60-day mandate. The advisory firm will assess AT’s debt position, review the government’s shareholding in Telecel Ghana, and recommend strategies for establishing a financially viable second national operator to strengthen competition in the telecom market

The Ghanaian Telecom market is dominated by MTN Ghana, which holds 73.86% of the market share with 29.52 million subscribers as of Q1 2025. Telecel follows with 18.26% (7.29 million), while AT trails with 7.89% (3.15 million), according to the National Communications Authority.

A combined AT–Telecel operator would control about 26% of the market, creating a stronger second player capable of challenging MTN’s scale. For consumers, this could mean better service quality, wider coverage, and more competitive pricing in a sector that has long been tilted in MTN’s favour.

Hikmatu Bilali