Competition among operators is said to be responsible for the lower call rates in Ghana compared to other countries in Africa, according to the head of communications and research at the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Derek Laryea.

Laryea said Ghana's small telecom industry is saturated with nine licensed operators of which six offer voice and data services, including MTN, Vodafone, Airtel, Tigo, Glo, and Expresso , while three are offering 4G services - Surfline, Blu and Goldkey.

He said the achievement of lower call rates was as a result of the government's strategic decision to issue licenses to more than one operator. "Early in the mobile licensing process, most countries decided to ensure competition in mobile communications by licensing at least two providers. Since then, as additional mobile bands were identified and allocated, new mobile operators were licensed and they entered the market, increasing the level of competition in the industry."

Laryea believes that without competition, call rates would be high in the West African country considering the numerous challenges that the operators are dealing with.

"Telcos operating in Ghana today are hit with a myriad of challenges like high inflation, foreign exchange pressures due to depreciation of the Cedi, power disruptions and others, but yet hardly raise their tariffs because the Telco would not want to dissatisfy their customers."

Speaking on the latest report by Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Laryea said Ghana's average call rate is about GHp9 per minute (about 2 cents per minute) and is among the lowest in Africa – lower than those of South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and Tanzania.

He also quoted Balancing Act's report on African Telecoms and Internet Markets which said the call rates in Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia are the lowest on the continent.

Mark Casey, TMT Industry Leader (Africa) at Deloitte South Africa, believes low call rates are expected to bring out increased mobile penetration of lower income segments.

"Further subscriber growth is likely to continue being driven by lower call prices and lower overall cost of ownership for handsets, allowing penetration of lower income segments," Casey said in a report entitled The Future of Telecoms in Africa – The Blueprint for the Brave.