JOURNAL OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS, VOLUME 22, ISSUE 1, OCTOBER 2013

7

A Study of the readiness of the African
Telecommunication industry to upgrade all
GSM base stations to LTE.Case Study -
Ghana
Affum Emmanuel, Shaddrack Y. Nusenu, Ansong E. Danso, Addo Emmanuel and Agyekum
Kwame A-P
AbstractThe standardization of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) is currently carried through in 3GPP and the deployment of frequency plan-
ning, the issue of upgrading from the current GSM networks in Ghana to LTE is becoming clich and may even die out without any deploy-
ment being done, since Ghana has already failed to meet its 2011 target for LTE. In this paper, the readiness of Ghana to migrate from GSM
to LTE is investigated, including how Telecom companies and regulating bodies in Ghana will analyse the said network, network deployment,
network infrastructure, digital dividends, availability of the right LTE-compatible User Equipment and its positive effects on Ghana as a devel-
oping country. Further, the Technological, Technical, human resource and business aspects of deploying the LTE Network to facilitate the
rolling-out of the said network in Ghana are discussed. Again, a thorough analysis of the technology and its effective deployment which will
yield maximum and efficient usage of this network standard avoiding losses, yielding maximum profit thereby generating revenue for the
country are addressed. It was realized that, Ghana is not ready to implement LTE mainly because of the unavailability of digital dividends,
which will aid in an effective and cost-efficient roll-out with vast coverage providing more consumers with services of high QoS, in addition, as
a results of less internet usage among Ghanaians Telcos may be in huge financial risk, rather prefer locating LTE base stations at industrial
areas of the country.

Index Terms LTE, Digital Dividends, Network Infrastructure, Telcos

!

1 INTRODUCTION
he vorId has come a Iong vay in lechnoIogicaI ad-
vancemenl. One of lhe faslesl evoIving areas in lhis
amazing |ourney is lhe communicalions induslry secifi-
caIIy lhe leIecommunicalions induslry. TeIecommunica-
lion encomasses Iixed Nelvork Services and MobiIe
TeIehone Services and in Ghana bolh services are em-
Ioyed. Iixed nelvork services refer lo IandIine and ay-
hones vhich vere quile dominanl in lhe ninelies here in
Ghana and gIobaIIy as veII. Iayhones couId be found
aImosl anyvhere making communicalion quile easy for
lhose vilhoul access lo fixed nelvork services, vhich
vere Iaced in homes and offices.
MTS is a lye of service vhere mobiIe radio leIehones
connecl eoIe lo lhe ubIic svilched leIehone syslem
ISTN, lo olher mobiIe leIehones or lo olher communica-
lion syslems such as lo lhe Inlernel. This heIed lo salisfy
lhe need lo be abIe lo slay in louch everyvhere you go as
Iong as lhere vas service coverage. Ghana's leIecommu-
nicalion induslry vas monooIised by lhe incumbenl-
governmenl cororalion, Ghana Iosl, TeIehone and TeI-
egrah (ITT) hovever belveen 1994 and 2000, Ghana
moved from a governmenl conlroIIed ITT lo a comeli-
live leIecom environmenl lhal aIIoved slrong inlernel
and mobiIe leIecom nelvork roviders lo oerale. Due lo
lhe increase in leIe densily, lvo olher TeIecom Oeralors
look lhe oorlunily lo slarl business in Ghana so as lo
make use of lhe serve lhe mobiIe-hungry cuslomer
camaign. These comanies vere, Zain, vhich vas one of
lhe Ieading leIecom oeralors in Ghana, vas Ialer boughl
by harli AirleI in 2010. Since lhen, il has been a one of
lhe Ieading mobiIe oeralors in lhe counlry vilh one of
lhe Iovesl lariffs. GIobacom Limiled vhich slarled oera-
lions nol Iong ago, von ils Iicense lo oerale as a mobiIe
ceIIuIar service in Ghana on }uIy 17, 2008. Ghana's leIe-

E. Affum is with Department of Electrical and Electronic Eng., Kwame
Nkrumah University of science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana.
S. Y. Nusenu is with the Department of Electrical/Electronic Eng.,
Koforidua Polytechnic, Koforidua - Ghana.
Ansong E. Danso, Department for Information Technology of the Institute
of Computer Science, Valley View University.ss
E. Addo is with Department of Electrical and Electronic Eng., Kwame
Nkrumah University of science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana.
A-P.K. Agyekum is with Department of Electrical and Electronic Eng.,
Kwame Nkrumah University of science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana.


T
8

communicalion reguIalory aulhorily, lhe NalionaI Com-
municalions Aulhorily (NCA), decIared GIobacom vin-
ner of lhe seIeclion conlesl for lhe avard of lhe Sixlh Mo-
biIe CeIIuIar License ahead of olher oeralors from Africa
and lhe MiddIe Iasl |1j. These said comanies have aII
roIIed oul 3G in lhe counlry bul lhere is sliII lhirsl for
higher lhroughuls (dala seeds). LTI lherefore needs lo
be imIemenled, so as lo salisfy lhe need for higher
lhroughul er user. LTI is abIe lo rovide 10 unils dala
lransfer seeds, 3 unils nelvork caacily and Ialency
|2j. Hence LTI is lhe fulure radio inlerface slandard
based on OrlhogonaI Irequency Division MuIliIexing
(OIDM) lechnoIogy lhal can rovide high dale rales and
Iov Ialency services |3j. Ifficienl use of digilaI dividends
vouId Iead lo gIobaI harmonizalion of lhe use of lhe 700
MHz band for aII regions by lhe services vhich mosl need
il |2j. The mosl crilicaI issues lo be lackIed are in lhe foI-
Ioving areas: lerminaI mobiIily suorl for roviding
olimized and seamIess service across lhe nelvorks, in-
lerference managemenl lo conlroI and reduce lhe inler-
ference IeveI in case of co-channeI deIoymenl, range ex-
lension of smaII ceIIs, and lraffic sleering lo sleer users
lovards lhe nelvork caabIe of roviding lhe olimaI
erformance from lhe user and nelvork oinl of viev |3j.
Long Term IvoIulion (LTI) describes slandardizalion
vork by 3GII lo define a nev high-seed radio access
melhod for mobiIe communicalions syslems. Il is a dala
focused lechnoIogy. uiIding on lhe lechnicaI founda-
lions of lhe 3GII famiIy of ceIIuIar syslems lhal embraces
GSM, GIRS and IDGI as veII as WCDMA and nov
HSIA (High Seed Iackel Access), LTI offers a smoolh
evoIulionary alh lo higher seeds and Iover Ialency |4j.
This aer viII address lhe TechnoIogicaI, TechnicaI,
human resource and business asecls of deIoying lhe
LTI Nelvork, vhich faciIilale lhe roIIing-oul of lhe said
nelvork in Ghana. This sludy viII veigh lhe ros and
cons of roIIing oul LTI in Ghana, as a lhorough anaIysis
of lhe lechnoIogy and an effeclive deIoymenl vhich viII
yieId maximum and efficienl usage of lhis nelvork
slandard vhich vouId avoid Iosses, yieIding maximum
rofil lhereby generaling revenue for lhe counlry. This
goes lo benefil Service Iroviders, consumers and lhe
counlry as a vhoIe, crealing a vin-vin silualion.
This aer is organized as foIIovs: Seclion II resenls
rosecls and reIaled vork. Seclion III resenls resuIls
and discussion.ConcIusion and Recommendalions are
resenled in seclion IV.
2 PROPECTS AND RELATED WORK
In February 2008 a white paper from the UMTS Forum
was released to explain how LTE is the ideal platform to
bridge the gap between earlier legacy networks and 4G.
The publication stated that LTE is the next step on a
clearly-charted roadmap to so-called 4G mobile systems
that starts with todays 2G and 3G networks. Building on
the technical foundations of the 3GPP family of cellular
systems that embraces GSM, GPRS and EDGE as well as
WCDMA and now HSPA (High Speed Packet Access);
LTE offers a smooth evolutionary path to higher speeds
and lower latency. Coupled with more efficient use of
operators finite spectrum assets, LTE enables an even
richer, more compelling mobile service environment [5].
LTE is said to be made up of the Evolved UMTS Terres-
trial Radio Access Node (E-UTRAN) and the Evolved
Packet Core (EPC). Authors [6], investigated that LTE
Release 8 is one of the primary broadband technologies
based on OFDM, which is currently being commercial-
ized. LTE Release 8, which is mainly deployed in a mac-
ro/microcell layout, provides improved system capacity
and coverage, high peak data rates, low latency, reduced
operating costs, multi-antenna support, flexible band-
width operation and seamless integration with existing
systems. LTE-Advanced, also known as LTE Release 10
significantly enhances the existing LTE Release 8 and
supports much higher peak rates, higher throughput and
coverage, and lower latencies, resulting in a better user
experience. Additionally, LTE Release 10 will support
heterogeneous deployments where low-power nodes
comprising picocells, femtocells, relays, remote radio
heads, and so on are placed in a macro cell layout. The
LTE-Advanced features enable one to meet or exceed
IMT-Advanced requirements. It may also be noted that
LTE Release 9 provides some minor enhancement to LTE
Release 8 with respect to the air interface, and includes
features like dual-layer beam-forming and time-
difference-of-arrival-based location techniques. In this
article an overview of the techniques being considered for
LTE Release 10 is discussed. This includes bandwidth
extension via carrier aggregation to support deployment,
bandwidths up to 100 MHz, downlink spatial multiplex-
ing including single-cell multi-user multiple-input multi-
ple-output transmission and coordinated multi point
transmission, uplink spatial multiplexing including ex-
tension to four-layer MIMO, and heterogeneous networks
with emphasis on Type 1 and Type 2 relays. Finally, the
performance of LTE Advanced using IMT-A scenarios is
presented and compared against IMT-A targets for full
buffer and burst traffic model [6]. A study done by
Motorola Inc. in 2007 [7], explains that, the motivation for
the 3rd Generation Partnership Project to work on LTE
was due to the recent increase of mobile data usage and
emergence of new applications such as MMOG (Multi-
media Online Gaming), mobile TV, Web 2.0, streaming
contents. It went ahead to assert that LTE was the stand-
ard in the mobile network technology tree that previously
realized the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network
technologies that now account for over 85% of all mobile
subscribers. LTE will ensure 3GPPs competitive edge
over other cellular technologies. LTE, also known as
Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-
UTRAN) is expected to substantially improve end user
throughputs, sector capacity and reduce user plane laten-
9

cy, bringing significantly improved user experience with
full mobility. Internet Protocol (IP) is the protocol for car-
rying all types of traffic. Voice traffic on the network will
be handled mainly as Vice over IP (VoIP). This white pa-
per also stated that deployments of LTE would be ex-
pected in 2010 and commercially available in the next
couple of years which has actually come to pass. In terms
of infrastructure, the white paper discussed how the
number of network elements would be reduced in the
Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The reduced number of net-
work elements leads to simpler functionality, improved
redundancy but most importantly allowing for connec-
tions and hand-over to other fixed line and wireless ac-
cess technologies, giving the service providers the ability
to deliver a seamless mobility experience. According to
the study, LTE was realized to have many merits. The
Access network in LTE, Evolved UMTS Radio Access
Network (EUTRAN), uses OFDM for its downlink at a
rate of 100Mbps+ and SC-FDMA for its uplink at a rate of
50Mbps+ both in the 20MHz spectrum. Orthogonal Fre-
quency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) based radio de-
sign and techniques which are used to spread data over
many sub-carriers, provides greater immunity to fading,
resulting in an overall increase in delivery reliability. It
employs FDD with an end-user latency of less than 10ms
and a control plane latency of less than 100ms for idle to
active. It uses a Flexible and Scalable Bandwidth, (1.25,
2.5, 5, 10, 15 and 20MHz) 1.25MHz suitable for in-band
migration (re-use of existing spectrum) and 5MHz
20MHz for clear spectrum green field deployments and
expansion of spectrum as demand grows. Frequency
spectrum choice and flexibility of deployment in GSM,
CDMA, UMTS bands (450, 700, 850, 900, 1700, 1800, 1900,
2100, 2500MHz) means that global roaming will be possi-
ble. Mobility will be supported up to 500kmph but like
other technologies will be optimized for lower speeds
(from 0 to 15kmph). It has coverage of 5 100km with
slight degradation after 30km. The VoIP is about 3 times
that of UMTS voice capacity. Utilizing MIMO which are
advanced antennas already standardized will increase the
overall sector throughput with an E2E QOS allowing pri-
oritization of different class of service. The core network,
Evolved Packet Core (EPC) is a new and simplified data
centric core network featuring collapsed architecture and
improved redundancy, centralized mobility and applica-
tion/services layer which is IMS based. The Access
technology agnostic core network allows connection to
other wireless and fixed line access networks. Connection
to legacy GSM/UMTS core offers smooth subscriber LTE
migration [8]. It was concluded in the white paper that,
LTE was destined to provide immensely improved user
experience, generate more revenue for Mobile Operators
and will be a strong competitor to the other wireless tech-
nologies in the next decade for both developed and grow-
ing markets. This should therefore serve as a motivation
to deploy LTE in Ghana, to generate revenue and create
more job opportunities for individuals. Ren-Huang et al
[9], investigated the performance of LTE paging, and pro-
vided the guidelines for the best paging sequence of cells.
During the study, it was realized that, in a mobile telecom
network, locations of the user-equipment are tracked so
that incoming calls can be delivered to the UEs. Typical
mobility management includes location update, which
refers to the reporting of a UEs new location, when it is
moved to a new location in the network, and paging,
which helps the network to identify the location of the
user equipment when an incoming call arrives. It was also
realized that in LTE, it is the Mobility Management Entity
(MME) which is responsible for Mobility Management
and is connected to a group of eNode Bs. When an in-
coming call to the UE arrives, three paging schemes are
implemented, when large paging traffic is incurred. An
interacted cell therefore is the cell through which the UE
interacted with the network. The three schemes are
Scheme CT (Cell-TAL), Scheme TT (TA-TAL) and Scheme
CTT (Cell-TA-TAL). In Scheme CT, when an incoming
call arrives, the MME first asks the last interacted cell to
page the UE. If fails, all cells in the TAL are asked to page
the UE. Also in Scheme TT when an incoming call arrives,
the TA of the last interacted cell is asked to page the UE.
If fails, all cells in the TAL are asked to page the UE. In
Scheme CTT (Cell-TA-TAL), when an incoming call ar-
rives, the MME first asks the last interacted cell to page
the UE. If fails, the TA of the last interacted cell is asked to
page the UE. If fails again, all cells in the TAL are asked to
page the UE. It was concluded that, if the network signal-
ling costs for location update and paging are the major
concern, then the CTT scheme should be selected. If the
number of polling cycles is the major concern, then the
existing 3G mobility management should be selected for
the users with high mobility and regular movement pat-
terns. For low mobility users, the extra overheads in-
curred by the LTE paging can be ignored. During the
sixth session of the ITU/BDT Arab Regional Workshop
on 4G Wireless Systems: LTE Technology [10], which
took place in Tunisia, from 27 29 January 2010, the topic
LTE/SAE Mobility and Session Management was tack-
led. Two areas were defined for the handling of mobility
in LTE/SAE networks. These are the Cell, which is identi-
fied by the Cell Identity, and the Tracking Area (TA). The
Tracking Area is the successor of location and routing
areas from 2G and 3G. When a User Equipment is at-
tached to the network, the MME will know the UEs posi-
tion on tracking area level and in case the UE has to be
paged, this will be done in the full tracking area. Tracking
areas are identified by a Tracking Area Identity.
In [11], Tellabs also highlights MME as the main control
node in the LTE access network and breaks down MMEs
critical functions and interfaces into; Network Access
Control, Radio Resource Management, Mobility Man-
agement, Roaming Management, UE Reach-ability, Track-
ing Area Management, Lawful Intercept and Load Bal-
ancing between S-GWs. Within the EPC protocol stack are
unique and identifiable MME protocols. This stack con-
sists of the S1-MME stack, which supports S1-MME inter-
face with eNode B, and the S11 stack, responsible for
supporting the S11 interface with Serving Gateway. MME
supports the S1 interface with eNode B. The integrated S1
MME interface stack consists of IP, SCTP, and S1AP.
From the study, we acknowledge the fact that LTE has the
10

capability of performing certain advanced tasks that
would enable or improve user experience. Another study
on LTE LTE Advanced: The Roadmap to 4G Mobile
Wireless Networks by Amity et al, addressed the per-
formance targets and technology components being stud-
ied by 3GPP for LTE Advanced [12]. The High Level tar-
gets of LTE are reviewed, comparing them with the IMT-
Advanced requirements. Bandwidth, spectrum flexibility,
antenna schemes and uplink/downlink transmission are
also discussed in the paper. The paper goes on to explain
that in LTE-Advanced the need for Carrier Aggregation
arises from the requirement to support bandwidths larger
than those currently supported in LTE while at the same
time ensuring backward compatibility with LTE showing
how LTE clears a straight path to the smooth and efficient
implementation of higher technological advancements.
This is a clear indication of how implementing LTE in
Ghana is the doorway to a more evolved telecommunica-
tion environment. In concluding the paper, the role of
LTE in deploying advanced technologies like 4G was reit-
erated. Authors [13] did a comprehensive study when
they studied how different algorithms are used to ensure
that handover is done efficiently, seamlessly, more fre-
quent and fast looking at the advantages and disad-
vantages of each of them. According to the paper, hando-
ver is one of the most important factors that may degrade
the performance of TCP connections and real time appli-
cations in wireless data networks which invariably affects
the general performance of the system. As such, unneces-
sary handover (ping pong handover) is a waste of system
resources.


3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Ghana has undergone various technological advance-
ments in the telecommunications sector. With its first tel-
ecoms company beginning with GSM and GPRS services.
Now, with the advent of LTE, which is currently being
commercially deployed in various countries around the
world including Angola and Namibia, the National
Communications Authority is inclined on speeding up
the migration from analogue to digital television, in order
to make use of digital dividends for an effective and effi-
cient LTE network. The readiness of the Ghanaian tele-
communication companies to receive this new technology
is however the main issue. Subscribers have become more
dependent on data. Hence, the demand for higher
throughput per user and lower latency has increased ex-
ponentially. These demands will be met by Long Term
Evolution and will be more than welcome by the sub-
scribers. In a release by the National Communications
Authority on the topic, Broadband Wireless Access
(BWA): Licenses in the 2500 MHz 2690 MHz Band; Se-
lection and Award Procedure [14] in October 2011, a list
of the telephony market players in Ghana and their tech-
nology platforms was given. This is illustrated in Table 1.








Table 1
Spectrum utilization by Telecom Operators in Ghana

Operator Spectrum (MHz)
Vodafone 900/1800/2100
Airtel 900/1800/2100
Millicom 900/1800/2100
Scancom 900/1800/2100
Glo Mobile Ghana 900/1800/2100


This section constitutes the analysis of responses to ques-
tionnaires and interviews taken prior to the research. In a
nutshell, questionnaires answered by the different opera-
tors and regulating body are analysed with the help of
charts and graphs to determine the readiness of Ghana to
migrate to 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution).
The analysis of data received from questionnaires, aided
by Microsoft Excel, will be categorized into six models for
easy assessment of readiness. They are as follows;

Certainty of Deploying LTE.
Significance of LTE.
Challenges and Hindrances to deploying LTE.
Availability of LTE spectrum and plans of ubiqui-
tous coverage.
Readiness of Market (both Consumers and Telcos)
Representation of said Telecom Operators and the
number of consumers.


















Fig. 1: Percentage Access Lines at the end of September 2011 (Mo-
bile Operators)

11



3.1 CERTAINTY OF DEPLOYING LTE
Il vas reaIized lhal TeIco vere nol fuIIy syched for lhe
roIIing oul of LTI due lo lhe facl lhal, lhey (TeIco) had
nol recoued lhe cailaI exendilure, vhich vas invesled
in lheir currenl 3G infraslruclure. Il vas aIso reaIized
lhal, lhe ReguIaling ody (NCA) on lhe olher hand, vas a
100% cerlain lo deIoy LTI by firsl auclioning lhe digilaI
dividends, vhich has aIready been done lo foreign or
soon-lo-come TeIco vho viII serve as Inlernel Service
Iroviders for some years, before aIIoved lo handIe voice.
The reason, vhy lhe digilaI dividends vere nol auclioned
lo lhe currenl TeIco vas lo romole comelilion by invil-
ing nev TeIco inlo Ghana's TeIecommunicalions Indus-
lry.


















Fig. 2: Certainty of Deploying LTE

From Fig 2, it is realized that, the current Telcos do not
have any LTE sites, due to the unavailability of spectrum,
also known as digital dividends but 2 out of 3 of the cur-
rent Telcos have plans of rolling LTE.


3.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF LTE
Iigure 3 orlrays lhe ercelion or confirmalion of ad-
vanlages of LTI by some TeIecom comanies. 75% of lhe
sources agreed lo lhe facl lhal LTI serves more users
vhiIe onIy 25% vas cerlain LTI required fever lechnicaI
ersonneI bul by sludying olher LTI nelvorks in coun-
lries such as Vodafone in Germany and Verizon WireIess
in lhe Uniled Slales, il vas reaIized lhal LTI acluaIIy re-
quired fever lechnicaI ersonneI. LTI serving more users
viII be a very significanl meril lo TeIco's or ISIs, since
lhey viII be abIe lo enelrale lhe markel vilh such ease
and be abIe lo exlend lheir nelvorks lo ruraI areas such
Vodafone has done in Germany. Though lhis viII mean a
high cailaI exendilure, having fever lechnicaI erson-
neI viII mean having a reIaliveIy Iov oeraling exendi-
lure vhich viII be allraclive lo TeIecom oeralors, since il
may be reIaliveIy Iucralive vhen comared lo former
slandards.


















Fig. 3: Significance of LTE

3.3 CHALLENGES AND HINDRANCES TO DEPLOY-
ING LTE
Just deploying any network, there are obstacles that im-
pede or slow the actualization of the network regardless
of the fiscal characteristics of the company. In deploying
LTE, certain challenges were highlighted in our research.
Some of which were pertaining to Technology, Human
Resources, Finance, Marketing and Government-related
aspects.


















Fig. 4: Challenges and Hindrances to deploying LTE

In fig.4, redicled cerlain chaIIenges lhey may find aIong
lhe vay lo successfuIIy roIIing oul LTI. On lhe Y-axis
(degree of cerlainly), lhe range from 0-100 refers lo hov
TeIcos

Degree
of cer-
lainly
TeIcos
Degree
of
cerlainly

Degree of
cerlainly
12

cerlain lhey are of lhese chaIIenges. Il is reaIized lhal, lhe-
se differenl TeIcos have lheir reseclive chaIIenges. AIl-
hough lhey feIl lechnoIogicaI chaIIenges vere nol going
lo be much of a hindrance, lhey aII have lheir dislincl
Ians on hov lhey Ian on deIoy LTI successfuIIy.

3.4 AVAILABILITY OF LTE SPECTRUM AND PLANS
OF UBIQUITOUS COVERAGE
According to the International Telecommunications Un-
ion and National Communications Authority, 700 MHz is
the appropriate spectrum for LTE, which is currently un-
available at the moment since; Ghana is still in the process
of free up that spectrum. Ubiquitous coverage refers to
nationwide coverage which was not really supported by
the said Telcos for unforeseen reasons. From our observa-
tion in fig. 5, it may possibly be due to the fact that, ma-
jority of the Ghanaian population does not make good
use of the internet thus; to the Telcos it may be a huge
financial risk. They would rather place LTE base stations
at certain industrial places in Ghana.

















Fig. 5: Plans of ubiquitous coverage

3.5 MARKET READINESS
An independent concluded that the end-user demand for
higher throughput and performance has increased expo-
nentially over the years specifically in Ghana. More than
70% agreed to this research. The fig.6, below displays the
results obtained when Telcos and the Regulating body
were sampled. On the y-axis, the range from 0-120 refers
to the degree with which each Telco agreed. 0 for
Telcos 1 and 2 mean they did not agree to the idea of the
Ghanaian telecommunications industry being ready for
LTE and also did not agree that they were ready to up-
grade to LTE.








Fig. 6: Market Readiness


3.6 REPRESENTATION OF SAID TELECOM
OPERATORS AND THEIR NUMBER OF
CONSUMERS
The investigation into the readiness of Ghana to upgrade
all GSM base stations to LTE was done by deeply analys-
ing three Telecom Operators. Figure 7 illustrates respec-
tive number of consumers with all the three Telcos shar-
ing about 47% of the nations mobile subscribers as
shown in fig. 7 below.
















Fig. 7: Market share of sampled Telcos












Degree
of
certainty
Telcos
13

4 CONCLUSION
Il is vorlh concIuding lhal lhe Ghanaian TeIecommu-
nicalion Induslry is nol ready for lhe ugrading of aII
GSM base slalions lo LTI as sliuIaled by lhe NalionaI
Communicalions Aulhorily. This is nol lo say lhal
Ghana does nol deserve lo exerience uIlra fasl dala
seeds, ralher, Ghana is being hindered by lhe una-
vaiIabiIily of ils digilaI dividends. AIlhough LTI can
be deIoyed using lhe GSM 1800 MHZ frequency
seclrum band, as aIready deIoyed by AngoIa and
Namibia, Ghana as a nalion insisls on deIoying LTI
more efficienlIy and more cosl-effecliveIy by making
greal use of lhe currenlIy unavaiIabIe digilaI divi-
dends. Il is recommended lhal vhen finaIIy lhe LTI
lechnoIogy becomes a commerciaI reaIily in lhe
700MHz band, fieId sludies shouId be erformed lo
idenlify lechnicaI and financiaI Iimilalions encoun-
lered vhen designing infraslruclure for lhe said LTI
nelvork. This equimenl shouId be reIaliveIy cheaer
in lhe sense lhal, lo rovide voice and dala concurrenl-
Iy, an oeralor vouId have lo rovide services for
GSM, GIRS, WCDMA and LTI efficienlIy. This can be
done by eilher having a TS, RNC and IvoIved-node
's on sile or by having |usl one infraslruclure vhich
vouId simuIlaneousIy rovide aII lhese slandards.


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