Public Agenda NewsPaperPublic Agenda NewsPaper
  • General News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Health
  • Development Agenda
  • World News
  • Features & Opinions
  • Election watch
  • Editorial
Font ResizerAa
Public Agenda NewsPaperPublic Agenda NewsPaper
Font ResizerAa
  • General News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Health
  • Development Agenda
  • World News
  • Features & Opinions
  • Election watch
  • Editorial
Search
  • General News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Health
  • Development Agenda
  • World News
  • Features & Opinions
  • Election watch
  • Editorial
Follow US
Breaking NewsGeneral News

We’ve been making $1.1 million monthly savings from Common Platform – Ursula

Latifa Carlos
Last updated: November 14, 2019 5:06 pm
Latifa Carlos
Share
4 Min Read
Ursula Owusu
SHARE

The Minister of Communications, Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has stated that the introduction of the Common Platform (CP) monitoring in the telecommunications sector has resulted in a savings of US $1.1 million monthly over the previous contracts.

This, the Minister said will result in a total of US$66 million over the 5 year contract period.

Additionally, she says unlike the previous contracts, the CP offers real time monitoring of 2.5 billion transactions per day within the telecom sector in the form (e.g. Calls, SMS, Mobile money transactions, etc.) as well as Mobile Money Monitoring as an added component.

More Read

$100m legal war erupts between E&P and Azumah Resources
Ghana to attract more global oil investors after Akoma and Eban 1X discoveries
Govt cracks down on illegal mining task forces amid extortion claims
Dr. Adrian Alter appointed new IMF resident representative for Ghana
Ablekuma North: EC to rerun Parliamentary Election in 19 Polling Stations

Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said this at a press briefing in Accra on Thursday morning. [November 14, 2019].

The government of Ghana commenced the monitoring of telecoms activities based on the establishment of the CP (Common Platform) found in Section 14 of the Communications Services Tax Act 2008 (Act 754), as amended by the Communications Service Tax Act 2013 (Act 864).

The Common Platform has four main components: Fraud Management, Traffic Monitoring, Revenue Assurance and Mobile Money Monitoring.

Touching on the results achieved since the introduction of the CP Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said it has been less costly and more valuable.

The government of Ghana commenced the monitoring of telecoms activities based on the establishment of the CP (Common Platform) found in Section 14 of the Communications Services Tax Act 2008 (Act 754), as amended by the Communications Service Tax Act 2013 (Act 864).

The Common Platform has four main components: Fraud Management, Traffic Monitoring, Revenue Assurance and Mobile Money Monitoring.

Touching on the results achieved since the introduction of the CP Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said it has been less costly and more valuable.

Fraud Management

On the Fraud Management component, the Minister said the CP has from inception to date, made tax savings of over GH¢205.6 million.

“Over the life of the contract, the CP is expected to deliver tax savings of approximately GH¢795.9 million. This comes with a state-of-the-art Fraud Management System known as TELECOP. Through this, the CP originates over 150,000 international calls into Ghana every month to detect fraudulent SIMs automatically,” she said.

On Revenue Assurance, the Minister said the CP has been providing Revenue to the government through the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Top-ups, Measurement of Top-ups per Operator by the CP and Revenue to the Operator measured by the CP (Consumption).

With this, she said the GRA is now able to verify the various revenue streams of the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), plug revenue leakages and more accurately predict revenue trends from the sector for planning and policy formulation.

For Mobile Money Monitoring, she said the CP has reported an average monthly usage of GH¢29.1 Billion, GH¢195.8 million transactions, with GH¢71 million generated by the Operators in transaction fees, with further breakdowns of transaction types for informed policy decision making.

Under declarations

On Under declarations detected, Mrs Owusu-Ekuful said the introduction of the CP has uncovered that, prior to its introduction, GH¢300 million in taxes was lost from potential under-declarations between 2015 to Q1 of 2017.

She said an estimated GH¢470 million in taxes was saved between Q1 of 2017 to date as a result of the announcement of the implementation of the CP on March 8, 2017 and its actual implementation to date.

She said there would have been a potential loss of a total of GH¢1.5 billion through to the end of the CP contract, had the CP not been implemented.

Source: Graphic online

Share This Article
Facebook Whatsapp Whatsapp Email Copy Link Print

Latest News

Ghana secures $370M from IMF after successful review
July 8, 2025
Mid-Year budget to clarify road contractor payments – Ampem Nyarko
July 2, 2025
 ISODEC Urges Citizens to Engage More in Local Governance Processes 
July 2, 2025
Mfantseman Youth Trained to Strengthen Local Governance Participation 
July 2, 2025
Government Reaffirms Commitment to Investment-Friendly Environment to Attract Development Financing
July 1, 2025
New UN report charts path out of debt crisis threatening global development
June 30, 2025
World Bank backs Ghana $360m to strengthen macroeconomic stability
June 30, 2025

You Might Also Like

Breaking NewsElection watchtop stories

GJA holds national and regional elections today

June 30, 2025
Breaking NewsBusinesstop stories

PURC announces 2.45% increase in Electricity tariffs from July 1

June 26, 2025
Breaking NewsBusinesstop stories

Iran cannot unilaterally shut Strait of Hormuz – NPA boss

June 23, 2025
Breaking NewsBusinesstop stories

Israel-Iran war: Fuel prices likely to rise in July – COPEC

June 23, 2025

About Us

Public Agenda is fou­nded and owned by Pu­blic Agenda Communic­ations.

Public Agenda was founded as a public interest Me­dia entity. Its Visi­on is to contribute to building a well-i­nformed society where accurate informati­on dissemination is the cornerstone of a democratic, just and equitable society.

Its mission is to inform, guide and bui­ld responsible citiz­enship and accountab­le decision making and strive for excell­ence in the media in­dustry. Public Agenda Communications is managed by a Board of Directors.

Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?