The day after it ended NGIC’s monopoly, Ghana put the airwaves up for grabs. On 16 July 2026 the National Communications Authority (NCA) issued a Request for Applications for 5G spectrum across three frequency bands, open to any qualifying operator and, pointedly, to new entrants.
The move follows directly from the regulator’s decision, effective 15 July, to remove the exclusivity that had made Next-Gen InfraCo (NGIC) the sole builder of Ghana’s wholesale 5G network. The RFA document states the same thing in plain terms: “effective 15 July 2026, 5G services shall be provided on a competitive basis”. This is that decision turned into an offer.
What is on the table
The NCA is releasing spectrum in three bands, each suited to a different job. The 700 MHz low band, which travels far and penetrates buildings, is offered as three lots of 2 x 10 MHz and is the layer best suited to wide-area and rural coverage. The 2.3 GHz band comes as five lots of 20 MHz. The 3 GHz mid band covers 3300 to 3400 MHz and 3600 to 3650 MHz, the capacity workhorse of most 5G networks. The stakes are regional as much as national: Sub-Saharan Africa is forecast to be the world’s fastest-growing 5G market this decade.
Each application carries a non-refundable fee of 300,000 Ghana cedis (about US$26,000) per band, payable by banker’s draft, and bids run through a two-envelope process that separates the administrative and technical submission from the financial offer.
Built to keep the market open
The structure is designed to stop any single player cornering the spectrum. No applicant may take more than two of the three 700 MHz lots, a cap the NCA says is meant to preserve competition in the coverage layer, and no more than three of the five 2.3 GHz lots. Operators judged to hold significant market power face an additional premium on the minimum reserve price, raising the cost of dominance.
Eligibility is deliberately wide. Licensed mobile network operators, mobile virtual network operators, broadband wireless access providers and internet service providers may all apply, as may 100% Ghanaian-owned new entrants. That last category is the clearest signal that the regulator wants faces beyond the incumbents in the running.
Why it matters
For nearly two years Ghana bet on a single shared wholesale network to carry the country to 5G, and by early 2026 that bet had produced just 49 live sites against a 4,400-site plan. Stripping NGIC’s exclusivity removed the guarantee; this RFA supplies the alternative, a competitive licensing round that lets others build where one builder stalled.
It is a fast pivot. Applications close at 5:00 pm on 6 August 2026, giving prospective bidders barely three weeks to assemble a submission, and the eventual awards will show whether Ghana’s operators, or a new Ghanaian-owned challenger, are ready to put capital behind the spectrum. The full terms sit in the RFA published on the NCA’s website.
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