Nigeria-based Globacom has confirmed it has received a letter from the National Communications Authority (NCA), the Ghanaian regulator, declaring it the winner of the country’s sixth GSM license. According to reports, Globacom competed for the license in a ‘beauty contest’ auction with ten other bidders. The operator created a new business unit, Glo Mobile Ghana, to make the bid. The win is being hailed as a major step forward for Globacom’s expansion plans in West Africa; it has also recently won a license to launch services in Benin. According to Wireless Intelligence data, Ghana had 7.5 million mobile connections by end of first-quarter 2008. The market is led by MTN Ghana, which has around 4.4 million connections.

Meanwhile, another new GSM licensee in Africa – Hits Tanzania – says it will invest US$500 million in building-out its new network in the country over the next 13 months. It is targeting 2 million Tanzanian customers within the same period. The operator is part of the Hits Africa group, which has also obtained GSM licenses in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea, and is a shareholder in Atlantic Telecom of Liberia.