Glo Mobile Ghana’s performance under review
African telcos company, Glo Mobile (Globacom) has enjoyed a decent run on the continent. From its humble beginnings in the early 2000s, the company has risen to become one of the largest mobile network operators in sub-Saharan Africa.
It currently employs upwards of 3,500 people and boasts over 50 million subscribers. It is also the first-ever African company to build a high-capacity submarine fiber-optic cable from the United Kingdom to Nigeria — a project that was valued at about $800 million.
But despite these impressive feats, Glo Mobile has apparently failed to establish dominance in one of its main countries of operation — Ghana.
Glo Mobile Ghana: The Climax and the Anticlimax
Glo Mobile entered the Ghanaian market in 2012 with a bold and extravagant launch. At the time, MTN and Vodafone were already household names — and were each vying for first place on the Ghanaian mobile network scoreboard. For a period, though, Glo’s bold entrance seemed to have turned the tables, as Ghanaians, in their numbers, flocked to Glo outlets to claim their new sim cards.
All in all, it was a good-looking start to a promising-looking business campaign.
But 10 years down the line, Glo remains one of the smallest mobile network operators in the country. Estimates suggest that the number of Glo customers in Ghana stood at about 847,000 as of the end of 2021. This represents a feeble 2% of the local market share.
In fact, in comparison to MTN’s 25 million+ subscribers and Vodafone’s 8 million+ customers, Glo Mobile’s stake is but an infinitesimal figure.
It is unclear why this happened. Different pundits gave different explanations. Some opined that the company’s marketing strategy was merely inadequate. Others were of the view that Ghanaians were already largely content with existing mobile operators.
In any case, Glo has stayed operational in the country.
On Sunday, April 22, 2022, the company announced a new partnership with AirtelTigo, a government-owned mobile operator. The partnership, according to Glo, is a “strategic business move” aimed at improving customer experience.
Here are excerpts of the official press release announcing the partnership:
“April 22: Glo has entered into a nationwide National Roaming arrangement with AirtelTigo for voice, data, and SMS services.
In this strategic business move with AirtelTigo, all Glo customers will automatically latch onto the AirtelTigo network by 23rd April 2022.
It is worth noting that all other conditions of service remain unchanged. This means Glo customers will continue to recharge with Glo’s scratch cards or electronic credit transfers and enjoy all existing Glo products, including Value-Added Services.”
Presently, it is unclear if Glo customers will fully embrace this initiative, but the company assures that the move is a step in the right direction.
What does the future hold for Glo Ghana?
It remains to be seen if Glo’s new strategy will indeed help the company re-establish itself as a force to be reckoned with. But as always, time will tell.
