Business

All is set for the auction of the 800MHz spectrum band for 4G LTE  as the four bidders ready themselves to battle for the licence between today, Wednesday December 2 and 6.

The winner of the bid would be announced on December 7.

The four companies are running for a pair of 2x10MHz spectrum blocks within the 800MHz band, which has become available for broadband telecom services because of the global migration from analogue to digital television systems.

The four bidders are Ghanaian companies Surfline Communications, Goldkey Telecoms and Migson Communications, and South African telecoms giant, MTN Ghana (Scancom Ghana Limited).

They have all paid their non-refundable GHC200, 000 registration fees and the initial deposit of US$6.75 million each, which is 10 per cent of the US$67.5 million floor price of each of the two spectra blocks.

The highest bidder will win at the end of the day, and that company gets to pay the difference between the winner price and the 10 per cent initial deposit in 60 days. But the losers will be given back the 10 per cent deposit they made.

The four bidders have also completed engagements and an orientation process with the selected auctioneer, KPGM, how has assured to deliver a transparent, objective and professional exercise.

Indeed, KPMG has brought in some of its expert international staff to ensure the highest quality of professionalism in the auction process.

Background

This process started way back May 14, 2015, when the telecoms regulator, National Communications Authority called for public consultation prior to announcing the dates of the actual auction.

The public consultation process ended on June 11, 2015, by which time nine entities had put in their comments, contributions and concerns about the process.

The nine were MTN Ghana, Airtel Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, Tigo Ghana, Ghana Telecoms Chamber, Qualcomm International Incorporated, GSM Association, Ing. Dr. Adam Icarus Imoro and team made up of Surfline Communications, Goldkey Telecoms, Blu Telecoms and Broadband Home.

They each raised issues that led to some adjustments in the initial proposal by the NCA regarding the spectra auction. For instance, the initial floor price was $92 million plus, but it was reduced to $67.5 million based on respondents request for a reduction.

The deadline for the submission of bids was set at November 9, 2015 and by the close of that date only four had paid the mandatory non-refundable GHC200,000.

ICT Chamber

But after this rather long process, there emerged the Ghana ICT Chamber allegedly comprising of a 10-member Ghanaian consortium seeking to quash the open auction and offering to pay the $83 million required for the digital migration in Ghana, in exchange for the entire 800MHz spectrum.

Interestingly, the ICT Chamber included Surfline and Goldkey, who already have a Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) licenses in the 2600MHz band for 4G LTE services; and the two are also in the run for the 800MHz band.

In their submissions, the ICT Chamber directly attacked MTN Ghana's involvement in the open auction simply because MTN is a South Africa company. They insisted that Ghana's most priced asset cannot be given to a South African company so it must be indigenized.

They also sought for protection against the entry of the six 3G telcos into the 4G space, insisting that the locally-owned 4G players need more time to "recoup their $200 million investment and make a handsome profit".

NCA

But the NCA has explained that it had already taken care of local content in the telecom industry by awarding the first three blocks of the 2600MHz spectra strictly to local companies Surfline, Blu and Goldkey.

Moreover, winners of the new 800MHz spectrum would also be required to offload at least 35 per cent shares to Ghanaians.

MTN

MTN, which was attacked directly by the ICT Chamber, has also said that Ghanaians need to be given the chance to enjoy affordable and easily accessible 4G service before the technology becomes obsolete.

The company believes, with its 15 million customers and counting, it is in the best position to make this happen on a faster scale than any industry player.

It has therefore expressed the commitment and its readiness to deploy 4G LTE within six months after it gets access to the spectrum.

MTN Ghana CEO, Ebenezer Twum Asante said "we are ready, our equipment are ready, our expert staff are ready and our customers are ready with the 4G compliant devices waiting for us to rollout the service, and we can't wait any longer."

When the 800MHz spectrum is deployed on a larger scale, it will help to improve the performance of 3G networks and also provide 4G access to many more Ghanaians at affordable rates. It will also enable the rollout of more innovative products and services like mobile health, mobile agriculture, mobile education and more.
 

Source: http://www.myjoyonline.com/business/2015/December-2nd/four-telcos-go-head-to-head-in-800mhz-spectrum-auction-today.php

Think tank, African Center for Energy Policy, has forecasted a bleak future for Ghana’s oil industry due to what he says is refusal by companies granted production licences to explore for more oil.

ACEP Executive Director, Dr. Amin Adam, says the situation has arisen because there is an absence of proper due diligence on the companies’ capacity to explore oil before they are awarded licences.

Although Ghana is in its fifth year of oil production, Dr Amin Adam says the country may soon witness a decline in production unless companies with strong capacity are engaged to explore.

“When it comes to contract we still have very serious issues relating to how companies are evaluated. We have issues relating to open and competitive bidding process which other countries are using but we are not using," Dr Amin Adam said.

He has urged Parliament to push for full contract disclosure by government agencies that award exploration licences.

Dr. Amin Adam was speaking to Joy News on the sidelines of an international oil and gas training programme for journalist.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fears it may lose its highly trained staff to oil production companies operating in the country.

Although the EPA lacks adequate human resource to fully monitor activities of oil companies especially on the FPSO, the company says it is losing key staff multinational companies who offer better job opportunities.

EPA’s Deputy Director in charge of oil and gas, Kojo Agbenor Efunam, told Joy News the agency is under constant pressure to find ways to keep its staff.

Commenting on the issue, Dr Amin Adams said the problem at EPA must not be taken lightly.
 

Source: http://www.myjoyonline.com/news/2015/December-2nd/acep-predicts-bleak-future-for-ghanas-oil-industry.php

During an afternoon power cut in the Lusaka township of Bauleni, 52-year-old Stanford Mwanza does what work he can in his carpentry workshop by varnishing a wardrobe.
Among Bauleni's 15,000 residents little stirs on streets full of normally active welders, mechanics and tyre menders during business hours, as workers wait for power to return.
Elsewhere across the Zambian capital of 1.4 million, and throughout this hydroelectric-dependent country, businesses are suffering after an erratic rainy season from last October to March this year left reservoir water levels too low, resulting in load shedding - or planned power-cuts - lasting eight to 14 hours a day.
Not everyone, however, accepts the government's blaming of rains for the energy crisis that began shortly afterwards, but has worsened since August. Everyone agrees on the outcome, though.
"It is a hell of a problem," Mr Mwanza says. "The power went at 10 this morning and now we just have to wait. Normally it takes me three weeks to finish a wardrobe but this one has taken two months."
Poor rains
Zambia had one of Africa's fastest growing economies - expanding on average 7% annually over the past five years - driven by mining of its huge copper and cobalt reserves.

It’s about time local businesses took advantage of the growing use of Instant Messaging (IM) to promote and build their brands.
Instant messaging involves real time exchange of text messages between individuals through a software application over the Internet.  The popularity of IM has soared over the past year, with a 12 percentage point uplift in daily usage as more Ghanaians opt for closed messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Viber. In Ghana, daily instant messaging has seen impressive growth, from 74% of Ghanaian internet users, to 86% in 2015.
Globally, over half of internet users (55%) are now using instant messaging every day, while three quarters are using it on a weekly basis, according to Connected Life, a study of over 60,000 internet users worldwide from global research consultancy TNS.
According to Adewale Obaseki, the Managing Director of leading Marketing Research firm,              TNS RMS, IM offers significant opportunities for brands that successfully move to a content model. He said this when he delivered a lecture on the topic –Integrated Marketing Strategy in a digital world - organized by the Chartered Institute of Marketing – CIMG as part of its monthly series.
“Digital has come to stay, there has been more innovations in this in the last ten years than in the last seventy years and for Ghana we need to move to digital because our consumers are also changing their habits on a daily basis as well as their technology habits. Thus as marketers reaching them, it is actually important and the platform to reach them is digital.
“You need to understand your consumer and your target group. If your target group are the younger generation, they probably do not watch television as much as we do and so reaching them through digital is probably your only option. Now we have the average young digital user putting on his ear-piece  and then playing with his mobile all-day and so now companies whose targets are these consumers really need to connect with them through digital” he said.
Instant Messaging is particularly dominant in emerging ‘mobile-first’ markets, with daily usage rising even higher in markets such as Ghana, South Africa, China, Brazil, and Malaysia. By contrast, some Western markets are lagging behind in daily IM usage, including the UK and the US.
Despite this, social networking platforms are still rising in popularity on a global level with a 6% uplift in daily usage. Facebook has maintained its position as the world’s favourite social platform; almost one third of global internet users say they use it every day. In Ghana, however, daily usage of Facebook has plateaued, with a slight decrease in daily usage (from 66% in 2014 to 63% in 2015). Instagram and Twitter, however, have seen dramatic growth in Ghana over the past year, as social media behaviour starts to fragment over an increased number of social networking platforms.
This data shows that consumers are even more connected to each other, and across multiple platforms. While IM popularity is rising, traditional social media platforms are still holding strong, allowing content to go viral more quickly. The challenge for brands is to create content that consumers actually want to share.
Mr. Obaseki added “The mobile-centric nature of African markets presents enormous opportunity for marketers. Connected Ghanaians spend an average of over three hours per day on social platforms, with WhatsApp and Facebook the dominant platforms, but with newer platforms such as Instagram seeing rapid growth in popularity. The constantly connected status of digital users, and their appetite for relevant, engaging branded content is fertile ground for marketers to make a meaningful connection with their consumers”.
 Joseph Webb, Global Director of Connected Life, also noted “Apps like Snapchat, and WhatsApp are sweeping up new users every day, particularly amongst younger consumers who want to share experiences with a smaller, specific group, rather than using public, mainstream platforms like Facebook or Twitter.
“As people’s online habits become ever more fragmented, brands need to tap into the growing popularity of IM and other emerging platforms. The need for a content-driven approach across IM, social and traditional channels has never been clearer. Yet at the same time brands need to be very careful. Instant messaging is a more closed medium, meaning it is essential to share limited content that is genuinely relevant and valuable”
- Source:http://www.myjoyonline.com/business/2015/november-27th/local-businesses-must-exploit-instant-messaging-to-build-their-brands.php

As Ghana welcomes the highly anticipated 225MW Karpower barge, a lot of Ghanaians have expressed their thoughts, pleasures and displeasures relating to its adoption and use in Ghana per our recurrent energy crisis.

Apart from the fact that power barge is not a sustainable answer to Ghana’s current energy crisis, it is need for us to know some operational history of the Karpower.
 
To start with, the key operational challenge of the Karpower barge has being the fuel quality. This is one of its main setback in the history of its operations in other countries.  

In April 2013, the Fatmagul Sultan, the electricity-generating barge stationed off the Lebanese coast, stopped producing electricity for over a month, yet Karpower had to demand 8 million dollars of back pay from the Lebanese state for this downtime.  

Interestingly, the Karadeniz Company, maintained that reason behind the stoppage was low-quality fuel. This same clause of paying for non-performance is found in Ghana’s contractual agreement with Karpower.   

Since the key challenge for Karpower’s continuous operation is the quality of fuel, the question then is between Karpower and Ghana, who is responsible for the fuel standards according to the contract agreement?

If Ghana is responsible for the supply of the Fuel, do we have the adequate fuel specification or standards for the Power barge not to breakdown?

Again, it is imperative that such key issues are resolved timely within contractual frameworks between the Ghana and the Karadeniz Company, since this has been one of the reasons for the power barge’s breakdown in some other countries previously.

Despite the fact that the $700million USD to be spent on this Karpower could have been used to build a 450MW solar power plant which equally could have supported our peak load demands, it is still need that we have value for money for this Karpower project.  

In concluding, let me re-emphasize the need for Ghana to pay attention to the mistakes others have made concerning their agreement on this power barge so Ghanaians do not suffer its ramifications.
 
 
 
 
Source:http://business.peacefmonline.com/pages/economy/201511/262211.php

Tonaton.com, Ghana's largest marketplace, has launched two new services to enable it meet the dynamic needs of its customers.

The two services, launched on Thursday 19th November, 2015, are Tonaton Delivers, a safe and efficient delivery service for Tonaton.com users to get the products they buy to be delivered to their front door and Tonaton Memberships, a value-added service to help businesses extend their footprints to increase their sales.

Speaking to the press, Managing Director of Tonaton.com, Sandra Abrokwa Owusu-Kyerematen said,Tonaton Deliversis focused on building confidence and trust of online marketplaces in Ghana.

“Quality of service and goods is one aspect we do not compromise on Tonaton.com. It is important to us that, our customers are pleased with the products they receive from their orders and that it also matches   exactly with what they viewed on the website and were expecting,” Sandra said. “As the online market industry still evolves in Ghana, it is important to us that customer trust is established and maintained, this can only be achieved by adding more valued services to our existing ones. The Tonaton Delivers service we are offering now clearly sets us apart from competition,” she added.

The pay-on-delivery service, the first for any e-marketplace in Ghana, will strive to eliminate certain burdens off both buyers and sellers.

“We are always looking to innovate on behalf of our customers and find ways to save them time and money. With Tonaton Delivers, we're relieving buyers and sellers of the inconvenience of traffic and the physical distance that exists between them. This is just another example of the value that Tonaton.com strives to provide its users,” Sandra added.

The service, being offered in Tema and Accra, is expected to be expanded to other areas in the coming weeks. With charges of GHs10 for Accra and GHs15 for Tema, Frederick Owusu, Head of Business Development and Category Management of Tonaton.com added that users of this service will see the value in time saved, not to mention the relief.

“This delivery service is a great service for people who are busy and don’t want to take the time to drive or meet buyers.  This represents the fastest, cheapest and most convenient way for customers to purchase items online.” he said.

How Tonaton Delivers Works
Once a seller posts a product ad on Tonaton.com and a buyer decides to purchase the item, the seller can book delivery by calling Tonaton Delivers. Tonaton Delivers will then pick up the item from the seller and deliver it to the buyer. After the buyer has inspected the item and shown satisfaction, they will proceed to pay Tonaton Delivers for the item.

Depending on the contentment of the buyer, Tonaton Delivers settles seller or returns unsold item to seller. Tonaton Delivers, “Fast, safe & convenient deliveries to you!” Call 0501509132 now.

The other service, Tonaton.com Memberships a value-added service to help businesses extend their footprint to increase their sales. The service comes with unmatched additional benefits for business ad posters depending the package subscribed on such as, a page dedicated entirely to one’s business- microsite, free featured listings, free customized shop stickers, free professional product photos, heavy discounts on banner advertising and free deliveries from Tonaton Delivers.

Speaking to the media, Frederick Fiifii Owusu, Head of Business Development and Category Management of Tonaton.com, said Tonaton.com Memberships comes in two packages. "The first package is "Business Unlimited", where users have full benefits and no limits on ads they can post on the site in a month. The second, "Business Plus", where users have the opportunity to tell the world about their business and products with limited ads."

Tonaton.com, Ghana’s largest market place looks forward to helping businesses grow as well making transactions easier and faster on the site through their initiatives

source:http://business.peacefmonline.com/pages/news/201511/261993.php