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<\/a>Forget Interconnect Clearing House<\/strong><\/p>\n The Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwesimintsim, Mr. Badu Ansah on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> said, setting up an Interconnect Clearing House is not the way to go.<\/p>\n \u201cInterconnect Clearing House can never address the issue. If you use it, then all what you are doing is to create another avenue for corruption and overburdening consumers because it doesn\u2019t solve the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n He asked, \u201cWho is going to create the clearing house? It\u2019s not going to be a government clearing house; it\u2019s going to be operated by private people. Who is going to pay them? Where are they going to get the money from? How much are you losing and how much are you going to put down?\u201d<\/p>\n The MP admonished government to think through the decision to set up an Interconnect Clearing House.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will not solve the problem,\u201d he stressed, adding that opting for a clearing house will only \u201ccream out some money for some group of people to benefit but it will not in the interest of the state and neither is it in the interest of the consumer.\u201d<\/p>\n Reduce Tariffs<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr. Badu Ansah maintained that the problem can only be solved \u201cwhen you don\u2019t make it attractive for the thieves to steal but as it is, we are still going to make it attractive for them to steal.\u201d<\/p>\n He argued that SIM box fraud is a problem because of the pricing policy on international calls.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have a situation where government has pegged a minimum of 19 cents for incoming calls from abroad \u2013 government takes 6 cents, the telcos take 13 cents. If you have anyone who can arrange for a lesser amount, it becomes very attractive so I believe that it is a policy issue because pricing is a policy,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n He maintained that the problem is with policy because \u201cin Nigeria, there is no SIM box fraud, in South Africa, it is not like that and it\u2019s because the policy does not encourage anybody to do SIM box fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n Don\u2019t blame Telcos<\/strong><\/p>\n The member of Parliament\u2019s Communication Committee dispelled rumors that the SIM box fraudsters connive with some workers of the various Telecom operators to perpetrate the crime.<\/p>\n According to him, \u201cthere is no proof that it is the cooperation of the Telcos. It is being speculated but it has happened so you would have to look at the solution for the problem \u2013 that is what is important.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe solution to the problem doesn\u2019t lie with the blame game or the speculation,\u201d he argued.<\/p>\n He thus challenged the security agencies to proof this assertion by making arrests saying, \u201cif you can arrest anyone and link them up to the Telcos, that is great; but we shouldn\u2019t sit down and speculate. If you know that Telcos are involved, arrest them.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. Badu Ansah pointed out that the six arrested suspects were able to procure the about 20,000 SIM cards because they possibly have a good network for fraudsters.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you have a good network of people around the country who are buying 10 SIM cards here, 20 SIM cards there, you will get the number they are talking about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Efua Idan Osam\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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