By William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
OccupyGhana (OG), a fast-growing
pressure group campaigning against widespread corruption in the country, has joined
the raging debate over whether or not the government should establish an Interconnect
Clearing House (ICH) for the telecommunications
sector.
The government, through the National
Communications Authority (NCA), is claiming that some telecommunication
companies (Telcos) are involved in scams and also underpaying revenue due the government
and as a result, said it was in the process of establishing an ICH that would
require Telcos and International Carriers to connect their gateways via a
clearinghouse.
According to the Ministry of
Communications, the ICH would also help to check Sim box fraud for which some
people, including an influential personality, were recently caught in the act.
The government further argues that the proposed ICH would combat
SIMboxing, plug leakages and under-declarations in government revenue and would
even be used as a platform for monitoring mobile financial transactions,
including MobileMoney.
Critical Issues
However, OccupyGhana in a letter to the sector ministry headed,
“OccupyGhana wants to know 2015,” said that there were certain ‘critical
issues’ that ‘remain unanswered’ in spite of the fact that the government
appears ‘poised’ to implement ICH programme.
The letter, which was copied to the Office of the President, Speaker of Parliament, Majority and
Minority Leaders, Telecoms Chamber of Commerce, Telcos and
the media said, “While the ICH concept may not necessarily be an
inappropriate solution, OccupyGhana has legitimate concerns, a number of which
have been expressed by other stakeholders in the telecommunications industry.”
“OccupyGhana believes that these concerns must be thoroughly discussed and a consensus reached in the best interest of the country, bearing in mind telecommunication licenses are national assets and the citizenry ought to be assured by government that all such assets will be harnessed and put to proper use to enable the nation to gain optimum benefit.”
Thought Through
The letter said that “OccupyGhana acknowledges, and is supportive of efforts by past and current governments to push the local content participation and capacity building in business sectors in Ghana,” adding “however, we are currently not convinced that the process of developing and implementing the ICH policy has been thoroughly thought through as yet.”
The letter said that “OccupyGhana acknowledges, and is supportive of efforts by past and current governments to push the local content participation and capacity building in business sectors in Ghana,” adding “however, we are currently not convinced that the process of developing and implementing the ICH policy has been thoroughly thought through as yet.”
They said the government and the NCA should address “all gaps in
order to avoid any national embarrassment,” saying “OccupyGhana and the
Citizenry request clarity from the NCA and the government.”
OccupyGhana said it believes that the engagement of the ICH
potentially runs contrary to the legal regime governing interconnection since
the law makes no room for a centralized ICH.
Teething Question
The pressure group sought to know from both the sector minister
and the Attorney General how the law and current policy supported the
establishment of a centralized ICH.
“NCA must explain to
citizens how an exclusive ICH will sanitise the telecommunication sector,
ensure proper revenue reporting and secure better quality of service,” adding
“why is government pushing for the establishment of a centralized ICH now?”
They want to know about the
benefits of the ICH and in which countries the proposed solution worked and whether
those countries have telecommunication industries typical to that in Ghana.
Tender document
OccupyGhana also wants to
know whether there was a tender document published selection of the operator of
the ICH and if so, when, and how many companies responded, and who were the
companies, their directors and shareholders.
“What expertise does the
selected operator have in this area of business? Why is government compelling Telcos to
use an exclusive ICH whose selection they have had no hand in?” they asked adding “why implement a new
system with an argument that the existing interconnect architecture is
complicated and inefficient yet the redundancy plan will rely 100% on the
rejected interconnecting architecture?”
Consumer concerns
They also want to know from
subscribers if the ICH addressed consumer concerns on privacy and the quality
of service or whether there were consumer concerns particularly increase in call
cost from the cost of inter-connectivity real.
“ If the ICH suffers an outage or a
shutdown, will the consumer be able to take any legal action against the ICH?”
OccupyGhana queried.
Telcos issues
OccupyGhana further sought
to know an ICH will “realistically and practically improve reported revenue”,
as is being asserted and who will bear the additional cost of interconnectivity
and SIM registration.
“Has government adequately
considered other alternatives? What
are the practical and technical risks from an ICH, if any, that Ghana should be
concerned about?” they asked.
They also aske the government to make public the names of Telcos
involved in sim box fraud if any saying “OccupyGhana agrees that Ghana deserves
a vibrant and competitive Telecommunication sector where there is opportunity
for growth, fair competition, and adequate return on investment.”
“OccupyGhana believes in a Telecommunication sector where local
content is promoted in order that more capacity is built, and more Ghanaians
will gain employment or create business opportunities, and Government will also
be assured of the required revenue.”
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