The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications Chamber has denied allegations made by Communications Minister-designate, Ursula Owusu Ekuful, that mobile telecoms operators are under declaring revenue.
Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful responding to a question posed to her on the rationale behind government’s engagement of a third party to conduct revenue assurance among telcos said she has no regrets regarding the contract.
“If I have to do it all over again, I would. Earlier I started talking about all the benefits that this country has got from the KelniGvG deal and I didn’t even go through half of it. In addition to the monthly savings that this platform provides, the broad management components have, from the inception date, raked in tax savings of GH¢565.7 million.”
“Over the life of the contract, the common platform is expected to deliver tax savings of approximately GH¢800 million.”
But the Head of Research and Communications at the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Derek Laryea disagreed with the Minister arguing that there is no valid basis for the under-declaration allegation against telecom operators.
Speaking to Accra-based Starr FM, he said: “Last year, we highlighted that we were able to pay taxes in excess of GH¢25 million to government. I heard from the discussion on Monday that even when we buy data with mobile money, we make a profit and that’s not true. We have requested from GRA the findings that some members are under-declaring revenue.
“You want to declare the right kind of revenue because that assures key shareholders and investors. So, there should be no cause to under-declare revenue. We were worried when we heard that our members are engaged in revenue under declaration. We are asking that the findings be shared with us,” he added.
The KelniGVG deal, valued at $89 million, was heavily criticised when it was announced because of its similarity with controversial agreements the state entered into with Subah Infosolutions and Afriwave Telcom Ltd in 2010 and 2016 respectively.
