Following the news that Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo) and fiberco CSquared announced a partnership that allows CSquared to lease GRIDCo’s excess fiber lines;

Madison Galati, Technology Market Data & Intelligence Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view on the partnership:

“The fixed broadband market in Ghana is severely limited, only penetrating 0.5% of the population whereas the Africa & Middle East (AME) region’s fixed broadband penetration is 6.7% in 2021. Ghana’s fixed broadband penetration has remained low due to under-developed fixed network infrastructure and years of underinvestment from the state and local authorities.

“The partnership between the GRIDCo and CSquared demonstrates a mutually beneficial agreement between an electricity company and a fiberco. GRIDCo has been working to capitalize on its excess fiber since 2017 by leasing it to telcos. For CSquared, the partnership offers the opportunity to expand its fiber network without having to invest in laying the infrastructure itself.”

A recent GlobalData report, ‘Fibercos and Towercos: Market Dynamics and Opportunities in AME’, evaluated the key models and drivers of fibercos in AME. The report found that in AME, where the fiber network is limited with only 25.3% of fixed broadband lines in 2020 being FTTx, fibercos such as CSquared are fairly limited as the fiber network is still in a stage of buildout. Utilizing the electricity grid’s fiber lines can provide an opportunity to expand the network. A similar tactic was pursued in Jordan. In October 2019, Jordanian Electric Power Company (JEPCO) and Umniah Mobile were granted a license to launch a fiberco jointventure, Jordan Advanced Fiber Company (FiberTech). With JD40m (US$56.3 million) in capital, FiberTech aims to connect more than 1.4 million homes and businesses across Jordan by 2025.

Galati continues: “The partnership between GRIDCo and CSquared is the latest development to expand the fiber network in Ghana. In July 2020, Vodafone Ghana launched an infrastructure rollout program to connect homes and businesses with fiber broadband. In addition, Orange’s Djoliba project strengthens international connectivity via the deployment of 10,000 kilometers of terrestrial fiber network and 10,000 kilometers of submarine network.”