Why government awarded 5G contract to a one-week-old company – Minister explains

The Minister of Communications and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, has provided a justification for the decision of the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government to award the contract for the rolling out of a 5G network in Ghana to NextGen InfraCo Limited, a company only one week old.

Notable Ghanaians, including investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, have raised concerns about the contract awarded to NextGen InfraCo.

Awuni noted that the company was incorporated barely a week before President Akufo-Addo granted executive approval for the deal, which is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

He highlighted issues of transparency and fairness, as the contract was awarded through sole sourcing without allowing companies with years of experience in the field to bid.

At a press briefing in Accra on Thursday, May 30, 2024, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful confirmed the deal and indicated that it was awarded based on merit.

She explained that NextGen was specifically established for the rollout of the 5G network in Ghana because no existing "neutral" company within the country had the capacity to undertake it.

"This is a special purpose vehicle, and once the government decided that we would use a neutral infrastructure company to deliver this service, there was no existing neutral infrastructure company capable of delivering it at the moment.

"So, it had to be specifically formed for the purpose of delivering this service, based on the strategic policies and decisions of the government, and it is borne out of our experiences, which is why we chose not to auction it," she said.

Watch her remarks in the video below:



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