The acting Director-General of Ghana's telecommunications industry regulator, the National Communications Authority (NCA), Major J.R.K. Tandoh (retd), told participants at the opening of a telecommunication consultative forum in Accra yesterday that as of January 2003, there were only 702,000 mobile subscribers and that the number had increased to 2,655,000 currently, while fixed-line subscribers stood at 443,000.

In addition, Major Tandoh said the NCA will next year license more fixed-line operators in the telecommunications sector to compete with Ghana Telecom and Westel.

"All the new entrants intend to use wireless local loop noted for its fast deployment as cellular services. With potential new entrants ready to enter the market, it is predicted that within the next two years the subscriber base will hit a record level of five million", he said.