The government has ordered ATC to reconnect Telecel after ATC Ghana says it has decided to unplug Telecel Ghana from power supply at a number of its tower stations across the country due to non-payment of bills.

ATC and Telecel: How the fight all Started

ATC Ghana, in a statement, said, “We deeply regret to inform residents and business users on the network of Telecel Ghana that they may experience some level of service disruption due to ATC Ghana’s lack of capacity to continue providing power supply to Telecel’s equipment, installed on a number of ATC Ghana’s tower sites, as a result of Telecel’s failure to satisfy its agreed obligations.”

The statement also said, “This unfortunate decision has been taken following extensive negotiations with Telecel and notification to the National Communications Authority (NCA).”

ATC Ghana said Telecel’s failure to meet their agreed obligations means ATC no longer has the capacity to purchase electricity and diesel to service Telecel’s equipment, particularly where its agreements with Telecel have expired.

This is not the first time ATC has had to unplug an operator for nonpayment of bills. In 2022, it cut off two Internet service providers—Surfline and Busy Ghana for similar reasons. Surfline has since gone completely out of business, while Busy is still working on a government SHS Wi-Fi contract with the support of other vendors.

When Telecel took over the 70% Vodafone shares in Ghana Telecom, it came with a huge legacy debt of an estimated $150 million, including a legacy debt to vendors like ATC Ghana. It was expected that Telecel was going to pay off a significant part of that debt out of the $500 million they promised to invest in the network in the first three years.

But ATC Ghana says it remains committed to working with all stakeholders for the continued growth of the telecommunications industry, and it remains open to a mutually acceptable commercial solution with Telecel to facilitate the restoration of services to Telecel’s equipment.

Telecel response:

Meanwhile, in a counter statement from Telecel Ghana, copied to Techfocus24, the company categorically denied owing ATC Ghana, describing the accusation as  “utterly false.”

“The issue has been escalated to the regulator, National Communications Authority (NCA) and is receiving the required attention,” it added. 

Telecel Ghana insisted they it remains committed to its contractual obligations and assures its subscribers that it will take all measures to ensure service continuity.

It then issued a subtle legal threat, saying, “Telecel Ghana reserves the right to use all lawful means to protect its brand and claim damages it will suffer as a result of the publication and any unlawful actions taken by ATC Ghana.”

Government intervention:

The Ministry of Communications and Digitalization (MoCD) and the National Communications Authority (NCA) have instructed leading tower company, ATC Ghana to reconnect all Telecel Ghana sites and retract their earlier publication alleging that Telecel had been disconnected for non-payment of bills.

This was at a meeting between the Ministry, NCA, and the two parties, ATC and Telecel, on Friday. July 5, 2024, following allegations by ATC that Telecel had failed to pay their power and fuel bills and, for that matter, their equipment on the tower co-location sites had been disconnected.

The matter has therefore been referred to the NCA for arbitration, and the ATC has been ordered to restore service to Telecel immediately, and retract their earlier publication through the same media through which they made the allegations.