The Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG) has given its thumb to the controversial Interconnect Clearing House (ICH) initiative being projected by government.
[contextly_sidebar id=”3h5f1zeuybVAkAIKk6zIyostZUigueWH”]AFAG contends that they are “not thrilled by the posturing of telecommunication companies (telcos) when it bothers on revenue monitoring, transparency and accountability.”
The Interconnect Clearing House (ICH) is an operator government is setting up to connect international calls and also interconnect calls between mobile networks on behalf of TELCOs in Ghana.
Many have argued that the ICH is not in the best interest of the nation.
According to Abu Ramadan and Henry Asante in a press release, “AFAG holds the belief that, multinational companies (ie MTN, Vodafon,Tigo etc) have no basis to dictate to the state especially when it bothers on transparency and monitoring of revenue generation.”
Only one TELCO declared profit
They argued that only one TELCO have so far declared profit to warrant taxation adding that the rest over the years have never declared profit which has made government to lose a great deal of revenue while questioning “who monitors the TELCOS to see if their revenue declared is the true position? Should we continue to loose over $100 million annually to SIM Boxing? indeed, some TELCOs are complaining of losing revenue through SIM Boxing.”
“Interestingly, they have not also liquidated. This magical phenomenon of deliberately evading taxes is worsened by what appears to be the collaboration of TELCOs and some individuals to illegally terminate calls through SIMboxing.”
MTN lost GH¢34m to SIMboxing
“According to MTN, it estimates loses of approximately GHC 34 million annually to SIMboxing. The related annual loss for Government of Ghana would be approximately GHC 16 million for international incoming traffic that should have been terminated on MTN’s network alone (ref: MTN website)”
AFAG in supporting the ICH move argued that its introduction can help monitor instant call records terminating on operator sites insisting that this will prevent TELCOS from under declaring revenue.
“ICH thus, will ensure total disclosure of revenues automatically.”
AFAG however suggested that “government must ensure extensive consultations and harmonisation with stakeholders to the mutual benefit of all actors.”
Gov’t sued over ICH
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Obuasi West, Kwaku Kwarteng, together with Mr Elijah Adansi-Bonah, the Research Director of Development Data (a policy research organisation) have sued the National Communications Authority (NCA) over the introduction of the ICH.
They claim they took the decision in order to challenge the setting up of the Interconnect Clearing House hence praying the court to declare it as “unlawful and unnecessary.”
The ICH will handle just 15% of domestic calls – Konfidants
Contrary to Ghana government’s many stated positive reasons for launching a single Interconnect Clearing House to stem a long list of claimed abuses, such as SIMBox fraud and tax under-declaration by the telcos, a Swiss-Ghanaian consulting firm has produced analysis to show that the ICH will handle less than 15% of domestic calls.
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By: Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana