The National Communications Authority has cleared three of the four companies that applied for spectrum licences in the 700 MHz, 2.3 GHz and 3 GHz bands, publishing the outcome of its qualification stage in a statement issued from Airport City, Accra on Wednesday, 9 September 2026.
Scancom Plc, trading as MTN Ghana, Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited, trading as Telecel Ghana, and Goal Telecommunications Ltd all advance to Stage 3, while Infrava Ltd falls out of the process.
The regulator reached those determinations after assessing Envelope A of each application, which contains the technical and qualification submission.
That assessment combined an eligibility review with a technical qualification assessment, and the Authority published the results under Section 3.3.2(4) of the Request for Applications, the provision that obliges it to disclose who passed and who did not.
What the qualification stage actually tested
The four applications arrived before the 5:00 p.m. deadline on 27 August 2026, a date the NCA had already pushed back three weeks from the original 6 August to give applicants more preparation time.
The Authority opened Envelope A on the deadline day, in line with the published Selection and Award Procedure. Eligibility under the Request for Applications extends beyond established mobile network operators.
Mobile virtual network operators, broadband wireless access providers, internet service providers and wholly Ghanaian-owned new entrants may all apply, provided they produce a certificate of incorporation, registration with the Data Protection Commission, a current tax clearance certificate and, where applicable, SSNIT employer clearance.
The NCA says it has informed all four applicants of its determinations, supplying reasons where applicable. For Infrava, the consequence is immediate. The Authority confirmed that “the Envelope B submitted by the Non-qualified Applicant will not be opened,” which closes the company’s participation without its financial offer ever reaching assessment.
The newcomer drawing scrutiny
MTN Ghana and Telecel Ghana need no introduction in this market. Goal Telecommunications does, and its appearance on the qualified list has generated immediate questions within the industry.
Independent checks indicate Goal Telecommunications was registered only this year, with no identifiable website, no publicly disclosed operational history, and no known track record in Ghanaian telecommunications.
Searches on two individuals listed as directors and shareholders, Samuel Appiah Kubi and Michael Boateng, produced little publicly available material connecting either to previous telecom operations or major technology infrastructure projects.
Those findings do not establish any irregularity. Goal Telecommunications satisfied the eligibility and technical criteria the NCA applied, and the Authority has not been asked publicly to explain its reasoning.
What the reporting does raise is a legitimate question about which technical partners, financing arrangements and rollout capacity the company placed before the regulator, since the Request for Applications requires evidence on all three.
The unsuccessful applicant attracts similar curiosity. Independent checks identified Infrava Ltd as led by Edith Whitman, whose traceable business activity in Ghana appears connected principally to poultry farming.
How the market opened up
This exercise exists because the NCA dismantled an exclusive arrangement.
Next Gen InfraCo Limited previously held sole rights to operate Ghana’s wholesale 5G infrastructure, and the Authority removed that exclusivity through a documented process running from a Notice of Proposed Amendment on 2 March 2026 through NGIC’s Statement of Objections on 1 April and oral representations before the NCA Governing Board on 28 May.
The regulator then determined that from 15 July 2026, 5G services would be provided competitively, and published the Request for Applications on 16 July under the Electronic Communications Act, 2008 (Act 775) and the National Communications Authority Act, 2008 (Act 769).
What the winners collect is substantial. The NCA is offering three paired blocks of 2×10 MHz in the 700 MHz band, five 20 MHz lots at 2.3 GHz and three 50 MHz lots across the 3 GHz mid-band segments at 3300 to 3400 MHz and 3600 to 3650 MHz.
Licences run for fifteen years, with reserve prices reaching 36 million dollars per lot and a combined floor value of roughly 230 million dollars if every lot clears.
What happens next
Stage 3 turns on money. The three qualified applicants will have their Best Price Offers opened and ranked, and the NCA will notify them separately of the date, time and venue.
Whether a three-way contest produces genuine competitive tension or simply confirms the positions of the two incumbents now rests on what Goal Telecommunications brings to that room.
The Authority’s own credibility travels with the answer, since a competitive process it built specifically to end an exclusive arrangement will be judged on whether the newcomer it qualified can actually build a network.
