The National Communications Authority, (NCA) says calls for a zero arbitrage for the Telecom sector will not entirely put an end to Simbox fraud.
There have been various suggestions to help combat Sim box fraud in Ghana.
[contextly_sidebar id=”n6nsWUXnPVubLY3F5ZG7xIHGXFFavZfO”]Ghana looses millions of cedis annually due to Sim box fraud.
Sim box fraud occurs when individuals or organizations illegally terminate a voice call of a registered licensed network operators, usually at lower cost than the approved rates.
The Chamber of Telecommunication is strongly advocating for a drastic reduction in tariffs on international calls as a means of making the practice unattractive.
While some industry players have advised telecom operators to offer zero arbitrage as a means to make sim box fraud unattractive.
Technology Entrepreneur Maximus Ametorgo, earlier told Citi Business News SIM Box fraud can be reduced when telecom operators offer zero arbitrage.
“They should reduce the difference between the international call rates and the local call rates; that will discourage people from seeing the business value in doing SIM BOX fraud because countries that have a very small or zero arbitrage don’t record any,’’ said Mr Amertogo.
Zero Arbitrage is where subscribers are able to make international calls without paying long distance charges by dialing certain numbers.
Ghana is believed to record huge numbers of Simbox fraud cases as a result of the 16 cents arbitrage the operators charge for international calls.
But the Principal Manager of Regulatory Administration at the National Communications Authority Kwame Baah Acheamfour told Citi Business News the introduction of the Interconnect Clearing House will rather help address simbox fraud.
‘’It is not a single bullet idea, we have identified price but that goes with many other things, what we see is a number of lose controls along the value chain and we believe if we get a much more tightened system which this clearing house will give us.’’
Kwame Baah Acheamfour adds that it is not a matter of pricing right as ‘’there are networks who have lower call rates to even other networks than those calling on their on-net and yet they are not able to grow as though who have higher price’’.
By: Lorrencia Nkrumah/citifmonline.com/Ghana