Telecel, an Africa-focused telecom brand, has officially launched in Ghana by rebranding Vodafone Ghana to Telecel Ghana amidst pomp and celebration.  

Launched with a brand promise of “Connecting Energies”, Telecel Ghana promises to provide innovative telecommunications solutions to connect and empower customers and communities across the country.

In February 2023, Telecel Group successfully completed the acquisition of Vodafone Group’s 70% shares of Ghana Telecoms to become the its majority shareholder, with government maintaining its 30% golden shares.

Within just one year, the company has fully rebranded from Vodafone Ghana to Telecel Ghana and immensely expanded network infrastructure and customer service points across the country to back its commitment to innovate around customer experience, mobile finance, broadband services and social investments.

The brand was first unveiled to employees at an event dubbed the Telecel Day at the Accra International Conference Centre.

At a second ceremony held at the Labadi Beach Hotel, the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia unveiled the Telecel brand in the presence of a cross section of stakeholders including government and community representatives, media, industry leaders and customers. The event, dubbed Platinum Night was an exclusive high-level event which offered the opportunity to senior stakeholders to know the brand.

As the special guest of honour at the event, Dr. Bawumia underscored the importance of telecoms in today’s economy, saying that particularly for Ghana, telecoms is critical to the country’s digitalization agenda, and on that score, he was particularly pleased that Telecel Group has decided to invest in Ghana.

“I believe it is testament to the conducive business environment created by deliberate and intentional policies by the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo government,” he said.

The final and big reveal was held at the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange amid exciting performances and solidarity messages from key stakeholders such as the Member of Parliament of Ayawaso West Wuogon, Hon. Lydia Seyram Alhassan.

Ghana’s most decorated hip-life artiste, Sarkodie was present to treat the ecstatic audience to loads of his hit tunes, which turned the energy up, signifying Telecel’s commitment to Connect Energies in Ghana.

Speaking at the brand unveil, the CEO of Telecel Group Moh Damush said, “We are thrilled to announce the launch of Telecel brand in Ghana, marking a significant milestone for Telecel and an opportunity to provide positive disruption, advancement, and innovation in Ghana. Telecel Group promises to put its heart and soul in the company, which is and will continue to be the flagship of Telecel in West Africa.”

He assured Ghanaians that Telecel Ghana is the flagship of the Telecel Group and it will stay that way in terms of where their investment will be focused most, adding that the company also continue to maintain its origin as Ghana Telecommunication Company.

The first CEO of Telecel Ghana, Patricia Obo-Nai said “Our business has evolved from offering basic telecommunication services to pioneering digital solutions across Ghana. This evolution was powered by our belief in innovation, commitment to excellence, and the vision to create a connected and empowered Ghana. We look forward to an exciting journey.”

She said during the one-year transition from Vodafone to Telecel, the Telecel Group have showed real commitment to investing in innovations that will tremendously improve customer experience and also deliver very exciting mobile finance and broadband packages.

According to her, the times ahead are going to be very exciting on Telecel and she therefore urged existing customers and Ghanaians in general to welcome Telecel with both hands so that they will keep their investment in Ghana for the long haul.

Significant improvements

Telecel’s vision is to lead Africa’s digital revolution, connecting communities with sustainable and locally developed innovative connectivity methods, and inspiring technological advancements that pave the way for a thriving, interconnected continent.

In Ghana, Telecel is focusing on significantly expanding its network coverage, aiming for 2,500 4G sites within three years and targeting 100% satellite-to-mobile connectivity to ensure nationwide access across Ghana.

Indeed, during the one-year transition period, the company added 500 more 4G sites, representing the biggest sites expansion over that period in the history of the industry in Ghana. It also increased its retail shops from 30 to 150 within the same period, indicating its readiness to improve customer experience, and there are concrete plans to increase retail shops to 300 within the next one year.

Change is here

With the change in the brand name, the other two subsidiaries of the company have also changed to Telecel Cash and Telecel Foundation. All areas of operations have changed to Telecel, and customers will continue to enjoy the existing services on their 020 and 050 numbers.

Speaking of change, Telecel is also changing the name of its AI chatbot from ToBi to Jerry, with a promise to improve the intelligence of the chatbot to handle customer complaints much better than its predecessor did.

Director for Consumer Business Unit, David Umoh said Telecel has taken all the feedback from customers’ experience with ToBi and are currently working on improving their chatbot offering to ensure that Jerry does much better, adding that the company intends to employ AI heavily in its operations so they will relent on offering the best of services in that area.