Telcos, Subah committed to fighting SIM Boxing

THE six telecommunication companies operating in the country together with Subah Infosolutions have shown commitment to fighting SIM Box fraud with the installation of devices at the various data centres of the telcos to check the menace.

The installation does not only help combat SIM box fraud but also provide telecom traffic monitoring services for revenue verification, specifically to collect ‘talk tax’ in line with the Electronic Communications Act, Act 775, 2008.

Subah has attached the devices to the billing load or the main data centre of each telecoms company to check SIM Box fraud and also monitor their revenue inflow so as to have a clearer picture of how much tax each telco should pay according to their actual revenues.

Subah Infosolutions Ghana Limited was in 2010 contracted by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to undertake this exercise.

Last week, members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications visited the premises of the telcos in the country to assess whether indeed the devices had been installed by Subah at the various data centres of the telcos and whether they were functioning properly.

The eighteen-member committee toured the premises of five out of the six telcos. The Committee could not gain access to Tigo’s data centre as technical officials were not available to usher them around. This was later realised to be the result of a miscommunication of time.

The Committee, chaired by Mr Albert Abongo, who is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bongo Constituency, visited the premises of MTN, Glo, Vodafone, Airtel and Expresso – all of whom had the monitoring system in place.

During the visit, the committee gained insight into the activities of the telecom operators and acquainted themselves with how Subah Infosolutions had installed equipment to independently monitor revenue inflows by the operators.

Briefing journalists after the tour, Mr Abongo expressed the Committee’s satisfaction with the work carried out by Subah.

“We are very much impressed and we think that something is actually been done to monitor the system,” Mr Abongo noted, adding, “Although we (the Committee) are not too technical we can see for ourselves that the infrastructure, installation and the systems are there for Subah to be able to do their work as stipulated by law.”

The Chairman mentioned the Committee’s readiness to consult the regulators, the National Communications Authority (NCA) should there be a need.