Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By William Yaw Owusu
Thursday, November 12, 2015
The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has urged
telecommunications operators in the country to continue to cooperate with Subah
Infosolutions Ghana Limited to generate revenue.
The authority reminded the telecoms
companies of their obligation with Subah under the Communication Service Tax
(Amendment) Law (Act 864, 2013).
Subah’s mandate
Subah’s contract that allows it to do
real time monitoring of telcoms sector billing systems for revenue assurance on
behalf of the GRA is being threatened, as National Communications Authority
(NCA) has asked Subah to acquire a license or face sanctions.
The NCA directive appears to have started
what can be described as ‘cold war’ between the Ministry of Finance, which has
supervisory jurisdiction over GRA on one hand and the Ministry of Communications
and the Attorney General on another.
NCA Directive
Matters came to a head when NCA’s new
Director-General, William Tevie, wrote a letter titled, ‘Operating without
license from NCA’ on October 30 to Subah requesting them “to cease operations
in the telecoms sector by Thursday, November 12, 2015 or face legal sanctions.
According to the NCA, when it assessed the
GRA-Subah Contract, it came to the conclusion that Subah needed a license.
NCA therefore gave Subah up to November
12 to get a license or face a ban.
Afriwave Connection
The NCA, which is attempting to put Subah
out of contract, is busily introducing Afriwave Telecoms Ghana Limited to the
telecoms operators.
A letter written on November 4 and signed
by the Deputy Director-General of the NCA, Albert Enninful, formerly introduced
Afriwave Telecoms Ghana Limited to the telecoms operators as the licensed
entity to carry out real time monitoring of international traffic.
"Kindly note that Afriwave Telecom
Ghana Limited has been licensed by the NCA pursuant to its regulatory mandate
to carry out international monitoring of traffic and you are by this letter
directed to permit them to have their probes attached to your respective systems.
"It is our expectation that all
operators in the industry will extend the necessary support and cooperation to
Afriwave Telecom Ghana Limited to enable them carry out their obligations,” the
letter said.
GRA adamant
The GRA, in a rebuttal, wrote to the telecoms
companies on November 5, ‘congratulating’ them on their cooperation with Subah
so far and asking them to continue to do so in accordance with the law.
The letter, signed by the Commissioner of
GRA George Blankson, insisted that inasmuch as companies assigned by GRA to
audit hospitals for revenue purposes do not need a license from the Ghana
Medical and Dental Council (GMDC), Subah also does not need a license from NCA
to monitor revenue generation from the telecoms sector.
The GRA informed the telecoms companies
that if they obstruct Subah, they risk being a fine of about five percent of
their revenue based on the last audit.
Tacit support
In a tacit support for the GRA, a Deputy
Minister of Finance, Cassel Ato Forson, in October 2015 wrote to the telecoms
companies to ignore any NCA directives and continue to cooperate with Subah
because its work was under the direct purview of the ministry through GRA.
A source at the Ministry of Finance told BUSINESS
GUIDE that Subah generates about GH¢87 million for the GRA through real
time monitoring of telcoms sector billing systems every month for the country.
On the other hand, the Attorney-General
and Ministry of Communications, appear to support the NCA agenda.
The AG indicated that the Subah contract the
state approved was not the same being implemented currently.
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