Ghana Telecom's debts Mount

– PAYS 49.3 BILLION MONTHLY, OWES SCANCOM 194 BN

Ghana Tele-communications Company Limited (Ghana Telecom) has been hit by severe financial crisis resulting from an interconnectivity agreement between the company and other GSM operators in the country.

By the terms of the agreement, Ghana Telecom pays about 9 billion a month to Millicom Ghana Limited, operators of BUZZ GSM service, an average of 40 million cedis a month to Scancom Ghana, operators of Areeba, the leading GSM service provider and 300 million cedis to Kasapa.

Currently, GhanaTelecom owes its main competitor, Scancom, almost charges that accrued between May and September this year alone.

Early signs of trouble over the arrangement emerged last month when the two giants in the industry, Scancom and GT, began what was described as a cellular phone war.

But before it could explode into an open confrontation, the National Communications Authority (NCA) intervened with the promise of an amicable settlement.