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Ghana – ICT and oil boom converge

Ghana may be lifted to middle income country status within a few years with the new oil sector expected to push it over. But ICT also has a key role to play in the country’s development, which presents a slew of opportunities.

01 February 2011

Ghana’s ICT boom converges with its oil boom, which kicked off on December 15, 2010 with the first commercial oil pour from Tullow Oil installations. Ghana’s potential ICT boom is tied to the landing of undersea cables, e.g. Main One, connecting it to international broadband networks.

As a potential market, Ghana is smaller than Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, with a population of over 24 million and a labour market of over ten million, according to the CIA World Factbook. However, the Ghana Statistical Service estimates that Ghana’s population will jump to 30 million in 2020 and 38 million in 2028. And, according to Guy Zibi of AfricaNext Research, any market of ten million in Africa is a sufficient market size to generate return on investments for telecommunications operators, at least.

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