I am glad MTN has heeded to John Mahama’s policies – Omane Boamah

Former Minister of Communications Dr Edward Omane Boamah has expressed delight about telecommunication giants MTN’s preparedness to be listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

In a Facebook post,sighted by Ghanapoliticsonline.com Dr Edward Omane Boamah said “Glad MTN Ghana is listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange. It was one of the conditions the Mahama Government approved to enable MNOs acquire 4G license.”

Ghana Investment Promotion Center, GIPC, expressed its commitment to give MTN the necessary approvals to aid its listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange by June this year.

The Telecoms giant disclosed to JoyBusiness that it is working to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange before the end of the first half of this year.

However, this is subject to securing the necessary approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Investment Promotion Centre.

There are fears that the proposed timelines for the listing could suffer if the approvals delay.

Chief Executive of the GIPC, Yofi Grant tells JoyBusiness this would not be MTN’s situation if it meets all the requirements.

He said, “Normally we work with the regulator and other agencies so it’s just not about us…There’s a possibility that we might finish with what we are doing before June if they do meet all the requirements.”

Yofi Grant said, “You see people misunderstand what we do; we stand between investors and the marketplace, but we also ensure that they do the right thing. I think they’ve demonstrated enough responsibility in making sure that all the boxes are ticked.

MTN’s listings

The telecoms company is hoping to raise about $500 million in order to offload 35 percent of its business in Ghana to locals.

If the listing on the stock exchange is successful, MTN Ghana would be exempted from the capital market local content policy which enjoins companies operating in specific areas including telecom, mining, oil and gas to list a minimum percentage of their shares on the Ghana Stock Exchange within 5 years of commencement of operations in Ghana.